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THE HOME 

POULTRY 

BOOK 

BY 

EDWARD I. FARRINGTON 




NEW YORK 
McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 



— ; — i^^ y*l 

Copyright, 1913, by "^ «^ ♦^ 

McBride, Nast & Co. 



Published February, 19 13 



©CI.A343891 



PREFACE 

NO doubt the experts whose eyes chance to 
fall on this book will say that it is ele- 
mentary. It is, and purposely so. It is 
designed first and last for the amateur who has no 
time or inclination to read technical and semi-tech- 
nical books on poultry keeping. It aims to tell the 
man with a few hens what to do and how to do it. 
There are certain statements with which some poul- 
try keepers will disagree. We may look for the 
millennium when the men who keep hens come to 
be of one mind as to the management of them. 
However, no pet theory has been put forward or 
new system advocated. What has been written is 
based largely on personal experience and what has 
been learned in visits to many poultry plants, large 
and small, in different parts of the country. It is 
sent out with the hope that some amateurs may find 
in it a suggestion or two which will help them to 
get more eggs with less expense and have more fun 
doing it. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I How TO Make a Beginning . i 

II Selecting a Breed to Keep 12 

III The Kind of House to Build 25 

IV Feeding a Little Flock 45 

V Hatching Chicks With Machine and Hen . . 59 

VI Brooding the Newly-Hatched Chicks .... 72 

VII How TO Get Eggs in Winter 84 

VIII Keeping Poultry on a Town Lot 94 

IX Breeding Fancy Poultry as a Pastime . . ,105 

X Ducks, Geese and Guinea Fowl 114 

XI Some Open Secrets 128 

XII Insect Pests and Other Troubles 138 

XIII The Year's Work, Month by Month .... 145 

Appendix 159 

Index 169 

Glossary . . , 171 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS 

Chicks need fresh air in abundance .... Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

White Plymouth Rock cock 2 '/ 

White Wyandotte cock 21/ 

8v^' 



Black Langshans 8 v 



White Leghorns 

Barred Plymouth Rock hen 14V 

Silver Wyandotte hen 14^ 

Houdans 18 " 

White Indian Runner ducks 187 

Black Orpington hen 22 \^ 

Eggs for private customers should be uniform . . . . 22 '- 

Shingled house for a small flock 26 '" 

House made of building paper 26 ^ 

An ideal home poultry plant 30 ^^ 

An excellent semi-monitor house 36 

" A " house of the open front type 40 v 

Combined exerciser and feeder 48 

A simple rack for sprouting oats 52 

A homemade trap nest and feed hopper 56 

An incubator cellar 60^ 

An incubator house of hollow tile 64 

A flock of well-bred hens 68 

Shelter with yard for growing chicks 74^ 

A simple fireless brooder 78 ^ 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING PAGE 

Feeding trough which prevents scratching 78 .' 

Outdoor brooders 82 / 

Excellent colony house for growing chicks 88 v 

A large semi-monitor type of house 92 '-/^ 

Openings for ventilation 96 >^ 

A roosting closet 96 "^ 

Vine-covered poultry yard 100 ^ 

Washing a hen 108 / 

Toulouse geese 116 

Guineas 120 / 

Pekin ducks 124 \j\ 

Indian Runner ducks 130 / 

A flock of bantams 134 ■ 

A home poultry plant 142 

White Cochin bantam 150 

Tolman fresh-air house 156. 



THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 



THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Chapter I 
HOW TO MAKE A BEGINNING 

WHEN a man — or for that matter, a 
woman — is smitten with the poultry 
fever, he usually knows little about 
breeds or methods or " systems." Only one fact 
presents itself — he wants to keep a few hens. 

Too often the beginner makes so little distinction 
between hens in general and those of particular 
breeds, that he accumulates a flock of mongrels. 
Beginning in that way, he may, perhaps, get as many 
eggs in a year as though he had started with a 
flock of pure-bred fowls, but the chances are that he 
will soon tire of poultry keeping. It is impossible 
to work up much enthusiasm over a lot of birds 
which have uniformity neither in color nor size and 
which show in their feathers an intermixture of 
many breeds and varieties. 

I 



2 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

On the other hand, there is rare pleasure in 
watching the movements of a Httle flock in which 
every cock and hen has the size, shape and markings 
typical of a recognized breed. For that reason, and 
because his poultry keeping ought to be a recreation 
and a joy, the beginner is urged to make his start 
with representatives of a breed which he has found 
to approach his ideal of what a good hen ought to 
look like. He will be limited to some extent in his 
choice, as will be seen when the chapter on breeds is 
reached, but he may rest assured that almost any 
breed which he may decide upon will give him a 
plentiful supply of eggs if intelligently cared for. 
And in the long run, it is safe to say that the well- 
bred bird will prove more profitable than the scrub. 
Moreover, a flock of handsome, stylish hens is al- 
most certain to receive better care than an assort- 
ment of mismatched fowls which make no appeal to 
the eye. 

The time to begin keeping hens is just when the 
opportunity offers. There are several ways in 
which a beginning may be made. In the Fall, it is 
customary to buy a few pullets which were hatched 
fairly early in the Spring, — March if the breed 
chosen is about the size of Wyandottes or Plymouth 



HOW TO MAKE A BEGINNING 3 

Rocks, a little later if smaller. It is well to have 
them in their new quarters by the first of October, 
in which month they may be expected to begin 
laying. If moved after the first eggs come, they are 
likely to cease laying for several weeks. 

Pullets should be chosen in preference to older 
hens, because experience has shown that they lay 
better. No male bird will be needed ; in fact, it is 
well not to have one in Winter. Eggs which have 
not been fertilized are preferred by discriminating 
buyers. 

In February, a first-class, well-matured rooster 
of the same breed as the hens may be put with the 
flock. If the amateur lives in a closely settled 
neighborhood, he may find it advisable not to have 
a cock bird at any time, but to buy the eggs from 
which to hatch his chicks from a reliable breeder 
who has good stock. 

After the first of the year, it may be well to buy 
a few two-year-old hens and a yearling rooster in 
order to secure eggs for hatching. Hens two years 
old are considered rather better to breed from than 
pullets, when mated with a younger male bird, and 
will cost no more — perhaps less. The beginner 
who starts at this time and in this way, though, 



4 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

should make it a point to buy his breeders from a 
man who has a flock of hens known to be good lay- 
ers. It is the strain and not the breed that counts. 
Two men with adjoining plants may keep fowls of 
the same breed and yet one may get twice as many 
eggs as the other. He is the man who has selected 
his best laying hens year after year to breed from 
and so has perfected a prolific strain. The begin- 
ner who can get breeding stock from such a man 
will be fortunate. If he must, however, he can buy 
his birds at a poultry store in the city, but it will be 
the part of wisdom for him to admit his lack of 
expert knowledge and take an experienced poultry- 
loving friend along with him when he makes his 
choice. If he is able to buy his stock of a poultry 
keeper near home, he may not need to pay more 
than a dollar a head. Perhaps he will have to 
pay two dollars. If he seeks really fancy stock he 
will go to a professional breeder and pay according 
to his inclinations and the length of his purse. 

When a start is made after the first of March 
and up to the middle of May, eggs for hatching may 
be purchased. More amateurs begin in this way 
than in any other. The eggs will cost from one 
dollar a setting up. In the country, it is often pos- 



HOW TO MAKE A BEGINNING 5 

sible to get eggs from a farmer who has good util- 
ity stock for seventy-five cents for a setting of 
thirteen eggs. A motherly old hen to sit on the 
eggs can be bought anywhere in the country for a 
dollar. It is wise, though, to make sure of the 
hen before ordering the eggs. Eggs may be sent 
by express many hundred miles and hatch well, 
although it is safer to buy them nearer home. 

One should plan on setting one hundred eggs if 
he wants a flock of twenty-five laying hens the 
following Winter. To hatch and raise fifty per cent, 
will be a satisfactory record, and half of the chick- 
ens raised may be expected to be cockerels. Of 
course the latter may be served on the table or sold, 
thus reducing the cost of rearing the little flock. 
The twenty-five pullets left will be about the right 
number for the average amateur and may be con- 
fined in a ten-by-twelve house. 

There is another way of beginning in the Spring 
and one which is growing in favor. Day-old chicks 
of most of the common breeds may now be pur- 
chased at from fifteen to twenty-five cents each, and 
may safely be shipped for long distances, as newly 
hatched chicks require no food for forty-eight hours, 
due to the fact that just before they break their 



6 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

shells, they absorb the yolks of the eggs, which pro- 
vides them with an abundant supply of nourish- 
ment. Secured in this way, the chicks may be put 
under a broody hen at night or they may be raised in 
a brooder. This plan does away with all the work 
incidental to the care of sitting hens. Some ama- 
teurs find it desirable to hatch no chickens at all, 
but to renew their flock every year in this conven- 
ient manner. If it is too late to set eggs when 
the momentous decision to keep a few hens is finally 
made, this method of making a start is a very satis- 
factory short-cut. 

The one draw-back to the purchase of day -old 
chicks is the fact that the buyer generally knows lit- 
tle about the stock from which the birds come. He 
may have bought into a good-laying strain and again 
he may not. Likewise, if he finds pleasure only in 
birds which are well-marked, he is participating in 
a lottery when he secures his chickens in this way. 
Custom-hatching has come as the solution of this 
problem. The amateur gets his eggs from what- 
ever source he likes. They may come from his own 
flock or from that of a breeder known to have su- 
perior birds. The eggs are entrusted to the hatch- 
ery and the chicks turned over to the owner when 



HOW TO MAKE A BEGINNING 7 

they have pecked their way to freedom at the end 
of twenty-one days, a nominal fee compensating the 
man who owns the incubator for his work. 

The perfection of mammoth incubators which 
have a capacity of several thousand eggs has given 
a tremendous impetus to this business of hatching 
chicks on a large scale and has made it possible for 
the man with a small flock to dispense entirely with 
sitting hens. However he acquires his chickens, the 
beginner will do well to bear in mind the point al- 
ready brought out, that he will inevitably lose some 
in the course of the brooding period, and half at 
least of the number raised may reasonably be set 
down as cockerels. 

I have said that twenty-five hens is a good num- 
ber for the amateur, but there is no reason why the 
flock should not be smaller. It is a reassuring fact 
that the small flocks lay the largest percentage of 
eggs. There are little portable houses costing about 
ten dollars in which eight hens can be carried through 
a Winter and that number of hens will keep a small 
family in eggs under proper conditions. 

It is not necessary to have an outside yard for 
the poultry to run in, although such a yard is pref- 
erable because less work is required than when 



8 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

the hens are confined all the time. It is perfectly 
feasible, however, to keep a small flock housed all 
the year round if the houses are of the open- front 
or fresh-air type and not placed in too hot a situa- 
tion. As a rule, though, it is not advisable to breed 
from hens kept in such close confinement, so ama- 
teurs who use this plan, sell all their laying hens in 
the Summer and buy well-grown pullets in the Fall, 
unless they care to purchase eggs or day-old chicks 
in the Spring. The custom of stocking up in the 
Fall with pullets just ready to lay and selling off the 
hens in the course of the Summer as they cease to 
lay makes poultry keeping a very simple matter and 
solves the problem for the would-be amateur who 
hesitates to begin because he has no time to give 
sitting hens or an incubator and no place in w^hich 
to rear young chickens. 

It must be said, though, that growing the chicks 
is one of the most fascinating and interesting phases 
of poultry keeping to the amateur who is a genuine, 
seasoned enthusiast. There are professional men 
who find their chief relaxation in the Spring of the 
year, when business cares weigh heavily and 
vacation days are yet far away, in the care and over- 
sight of a little flock of chickens — ^ sometimes Ban- 




White Leghorns are the most popular of the strictly egg 
breeds. They lay white eggs 




Black Langshans are large, docile and handsome, but have 
pinkish-white flesh and feathered legs 



HOW TO MAKE A BEGINNING 9 

tarns, which have many admirers among busy 
lawyers, doctors and ministers. 

The amateur who is wise will not waste a lot of 
money on elaborate houses for his birds. It is a 
curious and amusing fact that almost every poultry 
keeper has a pet theory about the best kind of hen 
houses. The theory held to-day, however, may be 
quite different from the one held yesterday, so that 
it is well to allow for alterations and remodeling. 
Eurthermore, simple houses are by all means the 
most practicable. It is well enough to spend as 
much money as one can afford in giving the poultry 
house an architectural finish to make it harmonize 
with the other buildings on the estate, but there 
should be no frills within doors and every fixture 
should be detachable, so that it may be removed and 
cleaned. 

If the beginner must count the cost, he ought not 
to spend on his poultry house more than a dollar 
for every hen which is to be confined there. This 
is a good basis for the prospective poultry keeper 
to lay his plans on when he is figuring the expense 
of the venture. 

Of course, poultry houses in suburban sections 
which must occupy somewhat conspicuous situa- 



lo THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

tions will need more attention to external appear- 
ances than those in less prominent locations. There 
are always one's neighbors to consider and it is 
altogether selfish to put up a building which will 
prove an eye-sore to anyone. Then, too, there is 
a false economy. The poultry house should be 
well and strongly built for the sake of the birds 
that are to occupy it. The owner will find more 
satisfaction in caring for his fowls if they are kept 
in neat, attractive quarters. 

It is a mistake for anybody who has not had ex- 
perience in keeping a large flock of poultry to begin 
on a large scale. Failure is almost sure to follow. 
Some amateurs expect to make a considerable profit 
from a small flock, and that, too, the first year. Of 
course, they don't do anything of the kind. Keep- 
ing hens is not a royal road to wealth. One dollar 
per year per hen is considered a fair profit. Some 
men and w^omen make more, but even though the 
profit be twice that amount and the flock number 
a thousand, which means hard and constant work 
for one person, it will be seen that the amount of 
money to be made is not great. 

Keeping a few hens for recreation and to supply 
the family table with fresh eggs and chicken is, 



HOW TO MAKE A BEGINNING ii 

however, to be highly commended to every man and 
woman who has the time and opportunity to give 
the birds the very Httle care they demand. The 
scraps from the family table will go far toward 
supplying the rations of a small flock and the sat- 
isfaction of eating eggs laid the day previous may 
well be imagined by those unfortunate people who 
are never certain whether their breakfast tgg was 
laid a month or a year before it appeared on the 
table. 



Chapter II 
SELECTING A BREED TO KEEP 

SPEAKING broadly, the amateur will be wise 
to select the breed and variety which makes 
the strongest appeal to him. He will have 
a wide choice, both as to size and markings. Yet 
there are several points aside from appearance 
which demand consideration. For example, some 
breeds lay pure white eggs, which in certain quar- 
ters is felt to be a distinct disadvantage. Leghorns 
are bred in comparatively small numbers in New 
England because the people living there have a strong 
prediliction for brown eggs, such as are produced 
by Plymouth Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. New 
York epicures, on the other hand, are willing to pay 
a premium for pure white eggs, and so Leghorns, 
the most famous breed laying eggs of that color, 
are bred by most of the poultrymen catering to that 
market. Following the fashion, the majority of 
New England amateurs keep hens of breeds which 
lay brown eggs, while in New York, New Jersey 

12 



SELECTING A BREED TO KEEP 13 

and Pennsylvania the white egg hens are more pop- 
ular. 

Of course, this matter of color preference is 
merely a notion, fostered by custom. There is ab- 
solutely no difference in the quality of a brown-shell 
egg and that of one with a white shell. On the 
"L Pacific coast an effort is being made to lead peo- 
ple away from their unreasoning prejudice for white 
eggs, so that the amateur will be encouraged to keep 
the general purpose breeds, which lay brown eggs. 
In most sections, though, the professional poultry- 
men who have a white-egg market are well satisfied, 
for the White Leghorn is the nearest approach to 
an egg-producing machine which has yet been de- 
veloped. 

There are other points to be considered, too. 
Hens like the Leghorns and Anconas, which are 
marvelous layers, are very small and so of little 
value as table fowl. Moreover, they are non-sit- 
tersj which means that it is impossible to hatch eggs 
under them or to raise chickens with them, making 
it necessary for the amateur to keep a few hens of 
another breed or to rely upon incubators, if he 
raises his own birds. Also, Jhese light hens are 
high flyers, so that more fencing is needed than for 



14 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

the heavier breeds, and they are not so contented 
when closely confined, while they always remain 
rather ^yild and cannot be petted like the representa- 
tives of the larger breeds. 

Some of these qualities, however, commend them 
to certain amateurs. The fact that they never sit 
is much in their favor if an incubator is to be used^ 
or if no chickens are to be hatched or raised, or 
if day-old chicks are to be purchased and reared in 
a brooder. Broody hens are a nuisance under such 
circumstances. The fact that these light breeds eat 
much less than the larger ones is distinctly in their 
favor and the difference in the amount of food con- 
sumed by a Leghorn and a Rhode Island Red, for 
instance, is surprisingly large, especially when it is 
considered that ..the smaller hen will lay the most 
eggs, as a rule, and that the eggs are often as large. 
The author has been keeping a pen of Anconas side 
by side with a pen of Reds, and the eggs of the 
former have averaged notably larger. 

It should be said, though, that the matter of strain 
enters into this proposition as well as into the num- 
ber of eggs produced. Some strains lay much 
larger eggs than those of other strains of the same 
breed, for some breeders make a point of breeding 



SELECTING A BREED TO KEEP 15 

for large eggs. One other point in favor of the 
light breeds is found in the fact that rnore of them 
may be kept in a house, four square feet to each 
bird being sufficient, while at least five square feet 
are required if the larger breeds are to be com- 
fortable. 

The matter of color is also to be considered. If 
kept in a town where the air is filled with smoke 
or where the soil is highly colored and heavy, white 
fowls are not easily kept in a presentable condition 
and black ones or those with dark-colored feathers 
are to be preferred. White fowls in a clean city 
look especially handsome when allowed to run on 
the lawn and may be preferred for their ornamental 
value. But if the chickens are given a wide range, 
those which are white will become shining marks 
for hawks. 

The poultry of to-day is divided into several dis- 
tinct classes, known as Asiatic, American, Mediter- 
ranean, English, French, in addition to which there 
are Games, Bantams, and a few miscellaneous 
breeds. Fowls of the American and Mediterranean 
breeds are those most commonly raised in this coun- 
try. The American class comprises the great utility 
breeds like the Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, and 



l6 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Rhode Island Reds, which are prolific layers of 
large brown eggs and which are heavy enough to 
dress well for the table. These are the breeds usu- 
ally found on the farms where pure-bred fowls of 
any kind are found. They are hardy, easy to care 
for and tame; they are good sitters and make good 
mothers. 

Most breeds are divided into several varieties and 
some into many like the Wyandottes, of which there 
are white, buff, silver, golden, silver-penciled, par- 
tridge and Columbian. There are barred, white, 
buff and Columbian Plymouth Rocks, but the Rhode 
Island Reds are confined to one variety, except that 
some have single and some rose combs. They orig- 
inated in the state from which the breed takes its 
name and among professional poultrymen who were 
seeking a superior all-round fowl. The Red has 
grown amazingly in popularity and is now closely 
crowding the Barred Plymouth Rock, which for 
years was the one breed seen everywhere. A Rhode 
Island White has now appeared. 

The one objection to the Reds from the point of 
view of the amateur who has a liking for handsome 
hens is the difficulty which is experienced in get- 
ting uniformity in coloring. There are many varia- 



SELECTING A BREED TO KEEP 17 

tions from the reddish buff desired, but by close 
culling, as well as careful breeding, it is possible to 
get a flock in which the color of all the birds is 
practically the same, and such a flock must delight 
the eye of any amateur. 

1. All the breeds in the American class have yellow 
flesh and yellow legs, which is to be expected of 
birds bred in this country, where jiiuch weight is 
given to these points by the buyers and sellers of 
dressed poultry. _ 

The fact that the flesh is white is a serious draw- 
back to the popularity of the Black Langshan, which 
is the only representative of the Asiatic class com- 
mended to the consideration of the amateur. The 
Langshan is smaller and more active than the other 
Asiatics, but has feathered legs like the others. The 
cock is a regal-looking bird and there are few hand- 
somer or more stylish fowls than a Black Langshan 
hen. A very low fence will confine the Asiatics, 
which are very quiet, slow-moving birds. Years 
ago the Light Brahmas were immensely popular and 
many old-time admirers of this breed have now taken 
up the Columbian Wyandotte, an x\merican breed 
which has practically the same markings, but which 
is smaller and with clean legs. 



i8 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Of the Mediterranean class, the Leghorns easily 
take the lead in popularity. Probably there are 
more heavy egg-laying strains of White Leghorns 
than of any other breed. There are rose-comb 
as well as single-comb white and brown Leghorns, 
the rose-comb varieties often being recommended 
for very cold climates, as the rose combs are not 
frosted as easily as the longer single combs. The 
single-comb white Leghorn is generally admitted to 
be without a peer as an Qgg producer and the eggs 
are valued so highly that the best trade in New York 
often specifies them. 

Like all members of this class, the Leghorns are 
non-sitters. They have yellow flesh and legs but are 
too small to be considered as table fowls, and so are 
not so popular in the country and in the yards of 
many amateurs as all-round fowls like the Rocks 
and Reds. The meat, however, what there is of it, 
is especially fine-grained and sweet and the chickens 
make fair broilers. Mature Leghorns are hard to 
fatten, though, and must be set down as belonging 
to a strictly egg-laying variety. 

The two varieties of Minorcas, white and black, 
are somewhat larger than Leghorns. They, too, 
are prolific layers of large, white eggs, but they have 




Hondans arc of Frencli origin aiul ha\e large crests. They 
are hardy, attractive and easy to keep 




White Indian Runner Ducks are handsome and prolific 
and seem likely to become as popular as the older varieties 



SELECTING A BREED TO KEEP 19 

white skins and dark shanks, which puts them at 
a disadvantage on this account. The Black Minor- 
cas are the more common. 

Anconas have achieved unexpected popularity 
within the past few years, especially in the West. 
They have most of the characteristics of the Leg- 
horn, being small, active and exceedingly prolific, 
while their eggs are large, white and well shaped. 
Anconas are black, except that every fifth feather 
has a white tip, giving the birds a very pleasing mot- 
tled appearance, which doubtless has helped to win 
the favor of breeders with an eye for striking and at- 
tractive markings. 

The Black Spanish and'the Andalusians are satis- 
factory breeds for egg production but are bred 
mostly by fanciers, being, for one reason or another, 
not in great favor with the majority of practical poul- 
try keepers. Their markings are odd and interesting. 
The Andalusians are especially curious, as their 
feathers have a bluish tinge. Interest in blue fowls 
has increased and there are blues in other classes. 

Of the English class, the Orpingtons in white, 
buff and black varieties are enjoying considerable 
prestige in this country, surprisingly large entries 
being made at some of the Eastern shows. They 



20 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

are splendid all-purpose fowls and so aristocratic in 
manner that they make a strong appeal to many 
beginners. They are a trifle larger than the Amer- 
ican breeds and doubtless would speedily come into 
great favor if it were not for the fact that their 
flesh is white. They lay brown-shelled eggs and 
produce them in generous numbers. The meat is 
excellent and a bird which is well cared for carries 
a lot of it, especially on the breast, so that for home 
use, the black Orpington is highly satisfactory, par- 
ticularly when it is desirable to have a breed with 
plumage which will not show stain or dirt. 

The Houdan is the French fowl best known in 
this country and is an excellent breed for the ama- 
teur, as the birds are tame, unusually attractive, 
contented in confinement and good layers. The 
eggs are white and the meat is too dark for market 
poultry, but exceptionally fine in texture and flavor 
There is not so much meat on the carcass as is fur- 
nished by birds of the American and other larger 
breeds, but more than the Leghorns offer. The 
flesh of Houdans is highly prized in France, where 
dark-meated fowls have the preference. The Hou- 
dans have crests or top-knots and are mottled black 
and white in color. They are hardy and non-sit- 



SELECTING A BREED TO KEEP 21 

ters. It is a characteristic of Houdan eggs that 
they are unusually fertile, while the chicks feather 
out rapidly and come to maturity very early. Hou- 
dans have one peculiarity in the form of a fifth toe, 
like a very old English breed, the Dorking. The 
Hamburgs and the Polish in several varieties com- 
prise two classes very popular with fanciers. 

The Games and Bantams in various breeds are 
freely bred by fanciers and afford much pleasure to 
their owners. Many of the Bantams are pocket 
editions of larger breeds, as, for example, the white, 
black and buff Cochins and the Light and Dark 
Erahmas. Probably Buff Cochin Bantams are 
ibred more widely than any of the others, but all 
of those named, as well as several other kinds, will 
afford their owners no little pleasure. Most of 
these Bantams lay a considerable number of eggs, 
(especially in the Spring, and the eggs, although small, 
are rich. Three are equivalent, as a rule, to two 
eggs from ordinary hens. The breeds mentioned 
are large enough to dress for the table. Bantams 
can hardly be surpassed as pets for children, when 
the latter are old enough to care for them. A pack- 
ing box is large enough to house a small flock and 
the amount of food consumed is very small. 



22 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Below is a list of the more common breeds of 
poultry, with notes on some of their marked char- 
acteristics : 

ASIATIC CLASS 

Weight t 

Name lbs. ^ Color of Color of 

Cocks Hens (h eggs flesh Varieties 

Light Brahmas. . .12 gYz Yes Brown Yellow 

Dark " ...ii 8>^ Yes Brown Yellow 

Cochin II gYz Yes Brown Yellow Buff, partridge, 

white, black. 

Langshan ., gj^ 7J4 Yes Brown White Black, white. 

AMERICAN CLASS 

Plymouth Rocks.. gYz 7j4 Yes Brown Yellow Barred, white, buff, 

silver, partridge, 
Columbian. 

Wyandottes 8j4 6J4 Yes Brown Yellow White, buff, silver, 

Columbian, golden, 
partridge, black, 
silver penciled. 

Rhode Island Reds 8^ 6>^ Yes Brown Yellow Single and rose 

comb. 

MEDITERRANEAN CLASS 

Leghorns * * No White Yellow Single and rose- 
comb white, sin- 
gle and rose-comb 
brown, single and 
rose comb buff, 
black, silver. 

Minorcas gt y^t No White White Single and rose 

comb black, sin- 
gle comb white. 

Anconas * * No White Yellow 

ENGLISH CLASS 
Orpingtons 10 8 Yes Brown White White, black, buff. 

FRENCH CLASS .^^ 

Houdans 71^ 6^ No White White 

* Have no standard weights. 

I Weight of single comb black. The other varieties are a pound lighter 



SELECTING A BREED TO KEEP 22, 

It seems almost impossible that the almost in- 
numerable breeds and varieties of poultry the world 
over should all have sprung from one common par- 
entage, and yet it was Darwin's theory that the 
jungle fowl of India was the progenitor of all known 
kinds. As the fowls were scattered over the earth, 
they were developed in many different ways. The 
poultry of China and Japan is quite different in ap- 
pearance and characteristics from that of this coun- 
try. In France breeds with white flesh and dark 
legs have been perpetuated, because the Frenchman 
likes that kind. In this country breeds with yellow 
flesh and yellow shanks have been made by crossing 
older breeds and carefully fixing the type in order 
to satisfy the Yankee prejudice. 

The whole subject is full of interest, and it be- 
comes plain that j:he amateur has wide latitude in 
making his selection. Almost every breed has some- 
thing to recommend it,' and no breed is entirely free 
of faults, so that it is not wise to skip from one to 
another if the first breed chosen does not prove as 
satisfactory as expected. The better plan is to give 
that breed a little more study in order to learn if 
the fault is not with the keeper instead of with the 



24 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

hens. And finally, it isjiot the part of wisdom to 
keep more than one breed at a time, when one first 
begins his poultry work. 



Chapter III 
THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 

WHAT a satisfactory thing it would be if 
one could draw a plan and say, " That 
is the best kind of poultry house for the 
amateur to build." But what a riotous time the man 
who should attempt that sort of thing would have! 
Poultry experts differ no less radically than doc- 
tors, and probably more time has been devoted to 
planning poultry houses than to designing churches. 
Of course the writer has his personal pet theory 
about poultry house construction, but he is not 
parading it, for it may change in the future as it 
has in the past. Few poultry keepers indeed would 
construct to-day the kind of house they would have 
built ten years ago. A distinct advance was made 
when the discovery was announced and proved to 
be true that poultry would thrive better in cold but 
dry houses in which there was an abundance of fresh 
air at all times than in very warm houses in which 
the ventilation was poor with the result that moisture 

25 



26 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

collected on the walls and made the houses damp. 
No longer are houses built with double walls packed 
with sawdust and with tightly closed windows filling 
the front. Many poultrymen have gone so far as to 
omit all glass, either substituting muslin curtains or 
making their houses entirely open in front. 

The conservatively radical house, if the expres- 
sion may be permitted, has much muslin and a little 
glass, the latter admitting light on very stormy days 
when it is advisable to have the muslin covered 
frames closed, and also, if properly arranged, allow- 
ing sunlight to strike directly on the floor at the 
front of the pen early in the morning, something 
quite desirable in cold weather, when the sun is slow 
in rising. 

There is no better type of house, in the opinion 
of many experts, than one which has a long hori- 
zontal opening, the bottom of which is two feet 
above the floor, with a window of glass under it or 
a taller window at the end, placed upright and with 
the bottom close to the floor. The long opening 
should be fitted with a muslin-covered frame, which 
may be hinged at the top and hooked up out of the 
way when not in use. Of course the opening should 
also be covered with poultry netting, and it is vv'ell 




Shingled house for a small flock. The door is left open 
on all fair days 




This house is made of building paper laid on poultry 
netting, without boarding 



THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 27 

to use one-inch mesh netting, so that sparrows will be 
kept out, as these birds often steal much more grain 
than they are entitled to, for any good they do. A 
house of this type, in use at the Perdue University 
Agricultural Experiment Station, Lafayette, Ind., is 
illustrated. The bottom of the window is low 
enough so that there is direct sunlight on the floor 
of the house early in the morning during the win- 
ter months and the opening is made high enough 
from the floor so that the wind will not blow di- 
rectly on the birds. In a house of this character 
almost every interior part is reached by sunshine 
at some time in the day. 

In these fresh-air houses the muslin curtains are 
not to be used except when the mercury is unusually 
low or when the rain is being driven in. Their only 
disadvantage is the fact that they collect a great 
deal of dust and need to be cleaned frequently, so 
that light may penetrate them. It is a good plan 
to have them on pin hinges, so that in Summer they 
may be taken down by drawing the pins, and put 
away until cold weather comes again. 

It is a common practice in very cold climates to 
have a second set of curtains in front of the perches, 
to be dropped when necessary. Such curtains should 



28 



THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 




Cross Section 



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Side elevation and cross section of the Perdue University 

house. The ventilating device at the rear is well planned 

and the broody coop of poultry netting is a valuable 

feature 



THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 29 

not be used unless the temperature is much below 
freezing and burlap or old bagging run on a wire 
will answer as well as muslin tacked to a frame. 
It should strike the front of the dropping boards or 
hang to the floor. The great advantage in cloth is 
that it admits air freely but without drafts. Ex- 
periments have shown that buildings where muslin 
has been used at the windows have been only a de- 
gree or two colder than when glass was used, for 
glass radiates cold. 

Poultry houses in the South need no protection 
at the windows and the type which has the entire 
front open gives full satisfaction. Indeed, open- 
front houses are being largely used in the most 
northerly states and many poultry keepers are en- 
thusiastic in praise of them. They certainly simplify 
the keeping of poultry, for there are neither win- 
dows nor curtains to look after, the front of the 
house being entirely open except that it is covered 
with poultry netting to keep the birds in and in- 
truders out. In some cases a canvas curtain is 
dropped over the front when necessary to keep out 
snow or a beating rain, and occasionally curtains 
are used in front of the perches on extremely cold 
nights, but the average owner of an open-front house 



30 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 




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Details of the Perdue University house. It can be made with 
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THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 31 

goes to the extreme of giving the hens no additional 
protection at all. Strange as it may seem, too, this 
method gives excellent success in scores of instances. 
The hens show no evidences of suffering from the 
cold, seldom have frosted combs, lay steadily through 
the coldest weather and are obviously in the pink of 
condition. 

Several things need to be considered, however, in 
building a house of this kind, or the results will not 
be so satisfactory. In the first place, a deep house 
is required. If the house is only eight or ten feet 
deep, the birds will be sure to suffer. Then, there 
must be an opening on one side only or the house 
will be too cold. When the pen is a deep one and 
open only at the front, the wind meets an air cush- 
ion when it strikes this opening, for the air within 
cannot be forced through. Such a house should be 
perfectly tight as to walls, and may have a glass 
window on the west side, if deemed desirable in or- 
der to get the afternoon sun. This is an advantage 
in a house of the type which is rather low^ in front. 
The well-known Tolman house is an example of 
this type. It is a long house, with a double-pitched 
roof, the ridge being about two-thirds the distance 
from the front, so that there is a long, gradual slope 



32 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

in front and a sharper pitch at the rear. The hens 
roost at the back of the house and the air cushion 
keeps the room so warm that Mr. Tolman finds cur- 
tains unnecessary, although he Hves near the coast 
in Massachusetts. 

On the famous Hayward farm at Hancock, N. H., 
" A " shaped houses are used, each accommodating 
a dozen birds. The front is covered only with poul- 
try wire and no protection in the form of curtains is 
given. 

Houses of a type which is the acme of simplicity 
are in common use in Southern New England, many 
of them on the farms of men who make poultry 
keeping a business. They have a double pitch roof, 
seven feet at the ridge and about four at the walls. 
The length of the house is about sixteen feet and 
the width about eight feet; one end, facing the 
south, is open. The fowls roost at the opposite 
end, of course, and thrive in a house of this char- 
acter, which fact satisfies the men who build them 
that the plan is a good one. It is needless to say 
that such a house is inexpensive ; and it will provide 
quarters for thirty or more fowls. 

Unless one is prepared to brush off his muslin 
curtains every other day and can resist the impulse 



THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 33 

to close them when the weather gets a little chilly, 
he had better consider the open-front house care- 
fully, always bearing in mind that he can drop bur- 
lap in front of the perches if he finds it necessary. 
Curtains that are not frequently cleaned, soon be- 
come clogged with dust, so that they admit little 
more air than a board. Then, of course, their chief 
merit, that of providing ventilation, has departed. 

The tendency in the direction of open-front houses 
has brought about another change, in the form of 
deeper houses than have been common, the reason 
of which has already been explained. Houses 
twenty feet deep or more are now being planned, 
but in such a house the sunlight will not reach the 
roosting quarters unless a shed roof is used and 
raised to a quite impracticable height in front. As 
direct sunlight is most desirable for sanitary rea- 
sons, windows in the roof have been devised. 
Sometimes the semi-monitor type is adopted. 

Such a house is in use at the New Jersey Experi- 
ment Station, and the type is warmly commended 
to farmers in particular by practical men. More 
than ordinary interest is being shown in this house 
because it is a radical departure from the type which 
has been generally recommended of late years. It 



34 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

is 40x20 feet, there being two pens each twenty 
feet square, which might be made the size of a 
smaller house. H this house were but ten feet 
deep, it would have to be eighty feet long to give 
the same number of square feet. A square house 
is more economical to build than a long and narrow 
one, for it requires less material. The arrange- 
ment of the windows at the top of this house makes 
it light in Winter and helps to keep it cool in Sum- 
mer. A house that is only four feet high at the 
rear, where the fowls roost, is warmer at night 
than one which is higher, but this is a distinct dis- 
advantage in Summer, and poultry often suffer as 
much from a high as from a low temperature. 

Another way of lighting and ventilating deep 
houses and a somewhat cheaper one, is to have win- 
dows placed sky-light fashion in the front slope of 
a double-pitched house. The plan has sometimes 
been tried but reported a poor one because v\^ater 
came in around the windows. This trouble may 
easily be overcome by attaching zinc strips to all 
sides of the windows, so that they will come outside 
the sashes when the windows are closed. Of course, 
it may be necessary occasionally in Winter to clean 
the snow from the windows, but as a rule the 



THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 35 



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Details of the Clark semi-monitor, open-front house at the 

New Jersey State Experiment Station. A photograph of 

this house is shown on page facing 36 



36 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

slightly higher temperature resulting from the 
warmer air in the house will cause the snow on 
the glass to melt and run off. 

Speaking broadly, the most satisfactory house for 
the average beginner is one the dimensions of which 
are about 10x12, with a shed roof seven feet high 
in front and four feet at the rear. Such a house 
will accommodate from twenty-five to thirty fowls 
comfortably. 

Renters look with favor upon portable houses, 
for if they move, the house can be taken apart and 
carried along to the new place of residence. Houses 
large enough to care for a dozen or fifteen hens cost 
from twenty to thirty dollars. They have dirt 
floors but are tight and well made, being high 
enough so that the attendant may work in them with 
ease. 

Another form of portable house is much smaller 
and not high enough for a man to enter, but made 
to accommodate eight or ten hens. The roof is so 
arranged that it may be raised from the rear in 
order to facilitate cleaning the dropping board and 
any other work inside the house which may be re- 
quired. A house of this kind with a scratching 
shed attached costs about ten dollars and a dollar 



THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 37 

or two more will be needed to pay for the roofing 
paper needed to cover it so that it will be suitable 
for use in cold weather. Houses of this type have 
been tested and proved wholly practical. Muslin 
is used in place of glass, and being low, the house 
is quite warm enough. 

Unless the question of ornamentation or archi- 
tectural finish figures, a thoroughly satisfactory 
house, as has been stated, need not cost more than 
one dollar for each hen which is to occupy it. Con- 
sidered purely from the financial standpoint, a poul- 
try house should cost no more. Many practical 
houses in which paying flocks are kept cost less. 
Many houses, on the other hand, which have cost 
much more have proved a failure. The writer once 
visited an amateur's plant on which there was an 
expensive house plastered on the inside and with a 
stove to keep it warm. It was large enough for 
many score of fowls, but only a few lonesome-look- 
ing birds were to be seen wandering about. 

Single boarded walls covered with roofing paper 
are sufficient. Paper is also to be preferred for the 
roof, as a rule, because it wears well when the roof 
slopes toward the north and because the pitch of the 
roof need not be as great as when shingles are em- 



38 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

ployed. The principal point in building the poultry 
house is to have it dry and perfectly tight. With 
matched boards and a good quality of patent roofing, 
this purpose is accomplished. 

The floor may be of earth, boards or concrete, 
depending largely upon circumstances. In loca- 
tions where water seeps away quickly, earth floors 
answer as well as any, but they should be built up 
at least a foot higher than the surface of the ground 
outside. The earth should be packed solidly and 
several inches of gravel thrown on top, to be re- 
moved and renewed once or twice a year, li rats 
bother, inch-mesh poultry wire may be laid several 
inches under the surface and made fast to the foun- 
dation. Another plan is to shovel out the earth 
around the outside of the house to the depth of a 
foot and the same distance from the foundation, 
and to place poultry wire so that it will extend down 
a foot into the ground and then a foot away from 
the house. This will prevent the rats digging in, 
as they always work close to the foundation. 

If the house is on a side hill or elevated from 
the ground, board floors may be used; but they 
should not be laid over damp ground with the ex- 
pectation of keeping the house dry. An earth floor 



THE KIND OF HOUS'E TO BUILD 39 

well elevated is better under such conditions. If, 
however, several inches of stones or cinders are 
placed under the boards, the result will be satis- 
factory. When there is an opening under the house, 
the floor will be cold unless double boarded. Of 
course, a layer of building paper between the boards 
will help. Rats may be kept from coming through 
a double-boarded floor by putting wire with a close 
mesh between the boards. 

Cement floors may be good or bad. If laid on 
the ground, moisture is very likely to rise through 
the cement. Some experiments of this kind have 
been most unsatisfactory. If the earth is dug out 
and replaced with a layer of stones or cinders a foot 
deep, this trouble will be avoided. Cement floors 
are cold to the feet and should be covered with sev- 
eral inches of sand, with a deep litter above. If well 
made, a cement floor is durable and rat-proof and 
the cost is not great. Whatever kind of floor is 
used, it should be several inches higher than the 
ground outside, that there may be no possibility of 
water collecting on it. 

The foundation walls for the permanent poultry 
house may be made of cement to advantage, al- 
though stones are often used. A cement wall is 



40 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

easily made by digging a trench to a point below 
the frost line, lining it with boards and filling in with 
layers of small stones and cement. Boards fastened 
to stakes will hold the cement above ground. Such 
a wall keeps out the rats. 

Cedar or hemlock posts set into the ground deeply 
make good supports for the small poultry house. 
In England, a favorite plan is to have the house on 
runners, so that it may be moved from place to place 
about the grounds, and sometimes wheels are used. 
The use of small houses which can be moved helps 
to make the work light, if there is plenty of room, for 
they can be moved instead of being cleaned out. 

It will be seen from all this, that the question of 
poultry house construction is not as simple as the 
novice might be led to believe. However, the fact 
remains that for the beginner there is nothing bet- 
ter than a simply made, shed-roof house with a com- 
bination of muslin and glass. Even this assertion 
may be disputed, too, so that it is not made dog- 
matically. 

The furnishings of the poultry house should be 
as simple as the house itself. Lice the poultry- 
man always has with him. By that is meant that 
there will always be a considerable number in the 



THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 41 

house, but if care is not exercised, he will have 
them literally with him, for they will swarm over 
his person every time he enters. Nothing will 
make the beginner more thoroughly disgusted with 
the poultry business than this experience. In order, 
therefore, that every part of the house may be 
cleaned, the furnishings should be detachable as well 
as simple, so that they may frequently be taken out 
and given an application of kerosene or some other 
liquid for which lice and mites have no liking. 

The best perches are made of 2x3 scantling set 
on edge and with the top corners rounded. If 
there is more than one perch they should be the 
same height and not arranged stepladder fashion, 
for then every hen will seek the highest round and 
there will be nightly confusion and quarreling. 
The perches should be not more than three feet 
above the floor and rest in a slotted board at each 
end, so that they will not need nailing. If perches 
are made very high, heavy fowls often suffer injury 
when jumping down. 

The dropping boards may be some twelve inches 
lower and should fit tightly against the wall at the 
back. It is well to have the boards cleated together 
so that they may be taken out at any time. A piece 



42 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

of scantling nailed to the wall at each end will sup- 
port them. Some amateurs have adopted the plan 
of supporting the dropping boards on wooden horses, 
so that the wall may be kept free even of braces, 
thus lessening the number of cracks in which in- 
sects can hide. 

Other poultry keepers have abandoned dropping 
boards entirely, but set a board upright in the floor 
to confine the droppings to the rear of the house. 
Practical poultry keepers find that this plan greatly 
lightens the labor as there are no dropping boards to 
clean, and that by keeping a little earth, peat or 
old litter under the perches, there is no trouble from 
odors if the accumulation is removed every month 
or two. Probably the average amateur will con- 
sider it neater to use dropping boards and he can 
perhaps handle the manure to better advantage. 
Still, they have no place in some of the portable 
houses now being exploited as especially adapted 
to the needs of the amateur. If boards are used, 
coal ashes, peat or dry earth should be dusted over 
them to act as an absorbent. Wood ashes should 
not be used if it is desired to retain the fertilizing 
qualities of the manure. 

Nests twelve inches square and as high are serv- 



THE KIND OF HOUSE TO BUILD 43 

Iceable and may be hung to the walls with screw 
eyes. Often the nests are put under the dropping 
boards and entered from the rear, but such an ar- 
rangement makes it difficult to reach any eggs which 
may be dropped in the alley back of the nests as 
well as decreasing the floor space. 

Dark nests are not required, but there is less dan- 
ger of the hens acquiring the egg-eating habit if 
they are used. One amateur makes boxes three feet 
long with an opening at one end and a hinged cover. 
He finds that there are fewer broken eggs and less 
quarreling when several hens crowd into such a 
nest at the same time than when they are given 
individual nests. 

The covers should always have a sharp pitch so 
that the hens cannot roost on them. In many cases, 
egg or orange crates turned on their sides are prov- 
ing very satisfactory nests. Nest eggs are of value 
in teaching or rather coaxing the hens to lay in 
the nests instead of in the corner. 

It is a good plan to have a platform for the feed 
and water dishes, so that the hens cannot scratch 
litter into them. A galvanized water pail is as sat- 
isfactory as a patent fountain when this plan is fol- 
lowed. 



44 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

A coop for breaking up broody hens is de- 
sirable, if hens of the breeds which have the sitting 
habit are kept. It may be made easily enough by 
using laths for the sides and the bottom and may 
be hung on the wall. It should be large enough for 
the hen to move about in comfortably, but she will 
soon lose her broodiness in such quarters, finding it 
very unpleasant to sit on slats with wide spaces 
between. Some people use poultry wire instead of 
laths. There is no need of starving a sitting hen 
or abusing her in any other way. Indeed, bad 
treatment will make her slower in beginning to lay 
again. Our grandfathers who used to duck sitting 
hens in the watering trough and slap them on the 
barn floor simply did not know any better. There 
has been progress in the poultry world. 



Chapter IV 
FEEDING A LITTLE FLOCK 

FEEDING a small flock of hens may be a 
complicated or a very simple matter. Ob- 
servation leads to the belief that the man 
who adopts a simple but intelligent plan will be just 
as successful as the one whose methods are more 
complex, and with much less effort. Many ama- 
teurs coddle their birds too much and overfeed them. 
Even people who keep but a few hens like to have 
them show a profit and it must be remembered that 
profit represents the difference between receipts and 
expenses. Some flocks which lay heavily fail to pay 
as well as others which produce fewer eggs but at 
less cost. When hired help is employed, the labor 
required becomes an important item. The fact is 
that hens do not need a great amount of fussing 
over. This statement is true, also, of chickens. 
The man who goes out with a lantern at lo o'clock 
at night to give his brooder chickens a final feeding 
is not a wise poultry keeper. 

45 



46 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

So much has been written about egg-producing 
feeds and growing feeds and balanced rations that 
the bewilderment of the beginner who tries to com- 
prehend it all can hardly be wondered at. It is 
needless to puzzle long over balanced rations. 
Place a trough of mixed grains before a flock of 
hens, and no matter how carefully the proportions 
have been balanced, the birds will unbalance them 
in about three minutes. That is to say, each fowl 
picks out the particular kind of grain which she likes 
best — and some poultry have very decided prefer- 
ences. 

Good sound grain in variety, with a mixture of 
ground grains served as a mash, a certain amount 
of meat in some form and green food in abundance 
will fill all the requirements. It must be remem- 
bered that hens forced for eggs do not make good 
breeding stock, besides demanding more care. The 
amateur's flock need not be fed oftener than twice 
a day, although it often is convenient to give the 
hens the scraps from the family table at noon. On 
one famous egg-producing plant the hens are fed 
at least five times a day. But those hens are forced. 
They might be termed specialized hens. 

The grains to use are corn, oats, wheat, barley 



FEEDING A LITTLE FLOCK 47 

and Kaffir corn. Corn, oats and wheat are the 
grains to be depended upon month in and month 
out. The others are fed to give variety, but really 
are not necessary. Many warnings against the ex- 
cessive use of corn have been sounded, so many, 
indeed, that some breeders have come to be almost 
afraid of this grain. Yet corn is the best poultry 
food there is and the danger that it will make the 
fowls too fat to lay is a bugaboo to which little at- 
tention need be paid, so long as pullets and one- 
year-old hens are kept — and nothing older ought to 
be found in the poultry yard. A fat hen will lay 
better than a thin one, anyway, and pullets with 
ordinary freedom and an average amount of mixed 
feed will seldom become unduly afflicted with avoir- 
dupois. 

Corn, then, may well constitute one-third of the 
ration the year around, and in Winter no harm will 
be done if half the scratch ration is corn. Of course 
this grain is heating, and in extremely warm weather 
the quantity may be reduced to a very small amount 
for the time being. 

Many amateurs get satisfactory results feeding 
equal parts of cracked corn, oats and wheat. 
Cracked corn is better than whole corn simply be- 



48 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

cause it makes the hen work harder to fill her crop, 
and exercise is important. H it is necessary to 
defer the afternoon feeding to only a short time 
before darkness falls, whole corn should be given, 
so that it will be cleaned up quickly. The different 
grains may be mixed and fed together or divided 
in any way one prefers. The author's plan is to 
feed oats and wheat, or barley and wheat in the 
morning and cracked corn at night, giving the hens 
at least an hour in which to clean up the last feeding 
before they feel inclined to seek their perches. 
Clipped oats are especially desirable. 

Most families have many table scraps which may 
be fed the hens to advantage. They may be run 
through a meat grinder or made into a mash by 
soaking them and mixing in a little bran or meal. 
Some amateurs practice the plan of keeping a ket- 
tle on the back of the kitchen range into which go 
all the scraps as fast as they accumulate. In this 
way they get softened and cooked and may be made 
into a mash as needed. Feeding this mash at noon 
breaks the monotony of the day for the hens, but it 
may be given in the morning or at night just as 
well. Experience has shown that if a mash be fed 
about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the hens will still 




Combined exerciser and feeder. Wlien the birds peck at 
the bar, a shower of grain is released 



'# 



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•ir; ^« 



'M 



FEEDING A LITTLE FLOCK 49 

eat a large amount of corn if this grain be given 
them at 5 o'clock. 

It is always well to supplement a mash ration fed 
in the afternoon with grain, so that the birds' crops 
will not be emptied too quickly. Whole or cracked 
corn is not digested nearly as quickly as mash. It 
is a mistake to feed so much mash in the morning 
that the hens will sit around for an hour or two 
before beginning to scratch in the litter. This is 
especially true in Winter, for then the fowls get 
thoroughly chilled. 

There has been much discussion over the relative 
merits of w^et and dry mash. By a wet mash is not 
meant a mash which is really wet, but one which 
has been moistened with water, milk or some other 
liquid, yet which is dry enough to crumble in the 
hand when squeezed. The sloppy mash of our 
grandmother's day is taboo among all up-to-date 
poultry keepers, amateur or otherwise. 

Dry mash means simply a mixture of ground 
grains which has not been moistened at all. Dry 
beef scraps, meat meal or shredded fish and dry al- 
falfa or clover may be added. The dictionary says 
that a mash is a soft or pulpy mass, which simply 
goes to show that the dictionary maker was not a 



50 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

poultry keeper. Dry mash is a term invented by 
poultrymen to contrast meal and various grains 
ground finely but fed dry, with the same combina- 
tions moistened with milk or water. x\mateurs are 
sometimes puzzled by the expression, just as they 
are deceived into expecting a wet mash to be really 
wet, when it is, when properly made, only a crumbly 
mass. 

It is probably true that a few more eggs are se- 
cured when a wet mash is given once a day, but 
against this advantage must be set the extra work 
required plus the fact that the eggs are likely to be 
less fertile. This does not refer to the mash which 
may be made with table scraps, but one mixed reg- 
ularly of various ground feeds, meat and alfalfa, 
n such a mash is given, of course the table scraps 
should be mixed with it, but otherwise the latter 
are to be considered a supplementary feeding, al- 
though assisting in cutting down the grain bill. Of 
course, if the family is a large one, there may be 
enough scraps to make one full feeding, with the 
addition of some bran and meal, and it would be 
wasteful in such a case not to make the most of it. 

Probably the average amateur will find using dry 
mash in hoppers the most satisfactory plan. He 



FEEDING A LITTLE FLOCK 51 

will save labor and be reasonably certain of good re- 
sults if he uses one of the commercial laying 
mashes, which can be bought at seed and poultry 
supply stores anyw^here and the best of which con- 
tain a well-balanced mixture of many grains with 
cut alfalfa and beef scraps added. Placed in a 
hopper where the fowls will have access to it at all 
times, the amateur never need fear that his hens are 
being underfed or be conscience-smitten if he is 
obliged to skip a feeding of whole grain. In fact, 
if it is found that only a little of this mash is being 
eaten, the amount of grain fed may be reduced in 
order to drive the hens to the hoppers, for the birds 
which eat liberally of the mash will usually be the 
ones to lay best. 

The tendency is to feed too much grain, and the 
amateur is especially likely to err in this direction. 
It goes without saying that the grain should be fed 
in a litter several inches deep, and it is wise to poke 
about in this litter with the foot occasionally to see 
if there is any grain on the floor. If grain is found 
there, the fact may be taken as indicating that the 
birds are receiving at least all they need, and it is 
a good plan to purposely miss a feeding once a week 
so that the hens will be forced to scratch industri- 



52 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

ously in order to get the grain which has been ac- 
cumulating from day to day. On one commercial 
plant, the evening meal on Sunday is always omit- 
ted. 

There are hoppers In great variety and at low 
prices. The kind which may be easily closed at 
night and which are made of metal are particularly 
desirable, because they prevent loss of grain from 
the depredations of rats and mice. A hopper may 
be easily made at home, however, by using a soap 
box, and a few moments' study of a ready-made 
hopper at the store will be enough to suggest to a 
man handy with tools how to go about the job. The 
amateur with but little time at his disposal will do 
well to use a hopper large enough to hold sufficient 
mash for a week or more. 

If one prefers to mix his own mash, he may adopt 
one of several formulas. A simple one is: Three 
parts bran, two parts ground oats, two parts mid- 
dling, one part corn meal and one part beef scraps. 
This would need to be supplemented with green 
food of some kind. Here is another combination : 
Twelve lbs. corn meal, 6 lbs. w^heat bran, 12 lbs. 
wheat middlings, 10 lbs. meat scraps, 2 lbs. oil meal, 
4 lbs. alfalfa meal. 



I-SfV«*|*;»^ 




A simple rack for sprouting oats, to provide green food 
in the winter months 



FEEDING A LITTLE FLOCK 53 

While these various mashes are to be commended 
to the amateur as well suited to his needs, the fact 
must not be overlooked that many practical poultry 
keepers get excellent results when they rely entirely 
on wheat bran and beef scraps, either mixed in equal 
parts or fed in separate hoppers, the latter plan be- 
ing preferred. In spite of what the experts may 
say about the theoretical value of this combination, 
there seems to be something about it which makes 
it exceedingly satisfactory. Many breeders bring up 
their chicks on it, to a large extent, and all fowls 
eat it freely. 

Patent foods and condiments should be shunned. 
It seems necessary, though, to make one reservation 
here. Of late, various experiments with mustard 
seem to show that it may become an important item 
in feeding for eggs. Very good reports follow its 
use in a mash, the amount being about a teaspoon ful 
to the quantity of mash eaten by twenty-five hens 
in a day. A little salt in the mash is also beneficial. 
The table scraps may be salted to just about the ex- 
tent which would make food palatable for human 
beings. 

Only the veriest tyro needs to be told that oyster 
shells and grit must be kept in hoppers where the 



54 



THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 



hens can have access to them at all times. To be 
sure, there is considerable disagreement about the 
necessity of ;gTit when oyster shells are used, one 
noted expert declaring that months will pass with- 
out the hens touching the grit. At any rate, no 
harm will be done if the fowls are without it for 
a few weeks, but it is being on the safe side to keep 
a box in the house at all times. A box of charcoal 
is also recommended, for charcoal is an excellent 
absorbent and the poultry seems to keep in better 
condition when it is always at hand. , 

An egg is largely water. Without water hens 
will not lay eggs. There is a string to that state- 
ment, too, for they will do very well without water 
if they have snow to eat. Some poultry keepers 
warm water for their hens all Winter; others give 
them no water of any kind when they can get snow. 
No doubt the hens which have the warm water 
give their owner a few more eggs than the snow- 
fed birds, but whether enough more to compensate 
him for the labor of carrying the water depends 
upon how valuable his time is. 

Some rather foolish statements are made about 
the necessity of warming the water for hens in Win- 
ter. We are told that cold water chills the digestive 



FEEDING A LITTLE FLOCK 55 

organs, but when one considers that a hen drinks 
only about a teaspoonful at a time, one may judge 
that this chilHng is not a very serious matter, after 
all. It is quite possible that the hen enjoys sipping 
warm water in the morning just as some human be- 
ings do, and everything which tends to make the hen 
comfortable and happy helps to promote egg pro- 
duction. 

Truth to tell, the getting of eggs depends to a 
very large extent upon keeping the hens in a con- 
tented state of mind. Worry a hen or change her 
surroundings and observe how quickly she will cease 
to lay. By the same token, then, it is worth while 
taking care that the flock has cool, fresh water at 
least twice a day in Summer. It is an advantage to 
have the water dish in a shaded place outside the 
house and an iron or earthenware dish will help to 
keep the water palatable. 

The use of deep litter has been mentioned, but 
the subject is worthy of elaboration. Hens must 
have exercise and there is no better way of com- 
pelling them to take it than to scatter the grain in 
several inches of straw, shredded corn stalks, hay 
or leaves on the floor of the poultry house. As the 
litter becomes packed down, rnore should be throwq 



56 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

in during the Winter, until it may have become a foot 
deep by Spring, at which time it should all be re- 
moved, and will prove a valuable addition to the 
garden. Swale hay makes good litter and a bale 
will answer the amateur a long time. Good straw 
is considered the best litter, but it is expensive. 
Leaves will answer and need cost only the few 
nickels which will reward a small boy for raking 
them up. Leaves pack hard and need loosening 
with a rake or stable fork. 

Whatever litter is used, the hens have a tendency 
to scratch it to the rear of the house, and it is a 
good plan to take five minutes daily in order to scat- 
ter it evenly over the floor. Some amateurs rake 
the grain into the litter every morning. 

Poultry are early risers in Summer and need their 
breakfast as soon as off the perches. If that is 
too early for their owner, it is a simple matter for 
him to scatter the grain in the litter the night be- 
fore. 

The importance of green food is often overlooked. 
It means much in getting a good egg yield and in 
keeping the hens in condition. There is nothing 
better than alfalfa, and clover comes next. They 
may be made a part of the mash or cut into short 



FEEDING A LITTLE FLOCK 57 

lengths and boiling water poured over them, being 
served after they have been allowed to steam for 
an hour or so. Indeed, the fowls will eat much dry 
alfalfa or clover, and chaff from the barn loft is a 
splendid addition to the litter, although still better 
for the floor of the brooder or brood coop. Lawn 
clippings are valuable and most amateurs can secure 
them easily by attaching a grass catcher to the lawn 
mower. The best way to prepare them for winter 
use is to spread them on a strip of burlap or a grain 
bag and let them stay in the sun until they crackle 
when touched. Then they may be stored in bar- 
rels or bags and will be ^greatly relished when soaked 
or steamed months afterwards, or even when fed 
dry. 

Lettuce and other greens are available in Sum- 
mer, but it is a good plan to plant a few cabbages 
or mangel wurzel beets for Winter. The beets are 
easier to keep than the cabbage. Dwarf Essex rape 
is excellent and if sown in April will be ready in six 
weeks. If the tops are cut off several times, new 
ones will grow, so that this plant offers an easy 
means of getting greens in abundance. Swiss chard 
may be used in the same way, renewing itself quickly 
when the outside leaves are removed. 



58 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

The man with but little spare time can make it 
possible for the hens to pick their own greens in 
Summer by sowing a patch of oats in the poultry 
yard and putting over it a strip of inch-mesh poultry 
netting attached to a light frame resting on two 
boards six inches wide set on edge at each end, the 
boards being sunk two inches into the ground to hold 
them in position. The hens will be able to eat off 
the oats only as they grow high enough so that they 
can be reached through the wire. 

The plan of hanging cabbages and other vege- 
tables in the hen house so that the hens will have 
to jump for them is not a good one, although often 
advocated. The birds are likely to be injured. 
Hens are fond of kale, which is not injured by the 
frost and may be left in the garden until after snow 
flies. This is an excellent green ration for early 
winter and easy to grow. 



Chapter V 

HATCHING THE CHICKS WITH MACHINE 
AND HEN 

THE way to get good chickens Is to begin 
with the hens that lay the eggs. These 
hens should be well-matured, hardy, in 
good condition and come from an egg-laying strain. 
Not more than a dozen birds of the lighter breed 
like the Leghorns and six to eight of the heavier 
breeds should be mated to one male, in order to 
make sure of fertile eggs. In some cases it is well 
to have two cocks for each pen, alternating them 
each week and keeping the rooster not in use in a 
pen by himself. When this plan is followed the 
pen may safely contain more hens. 

Eggs for hatching should not be kept more than 
two weeks and they need special care. They ought 
to be stored where the temperature does not run 
much below forty or much above sixty-five and 
where they will not dry out rapidly. Some people 
make a practice of keeping them in bran; others 

59 



6o THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

store them in cake or bread tins with closely fitting 
covers. Each plan serves to keep the eggs away 
from the light, which is desirable. It is especially 
necessary that they be kept in a place which is not at 
all damp, or they w^ill be likely to be touched with 
mold. They should not be packed in sawdust. It 
should not be understood, of course, that eggs kept 
in a basket on the pantry shelf will not yield any 
chicks ; the point is simply that eggs properly cared 
for will give a higher percentage of strong young- 
sters than those which are neglected. 

It is rather better not to set white and brown 
shelled eggs together, as the latter have slightly 
thicker shells, which fact may serve to prolong the 
hatch. Eggs of uniform size, smooth and without 
any abnormal features are the ones to select. 

Probably the average amateur will use hens for 
some years to come. The incubator is a wonderful 
invention and indispensable on large plants, but the 
man hatching from fifty to one hundred chicks will 
doubtless find it an advantage to rely on hens. 
When a larger number of chickens is desired or 
when they are wanted very early in the season, the 
question of investing in an incubator should be 
seriously considered. 



HATCHING THE CHICKS 6i 

Some amateurs keeping hens of the non-sitting 
breeds may, indeed, prefer to use a 70 or 120- 
Qgg machine to hatch their chicks rather than to 
bother with broody hens obtained from the neigh- 
bors. These Httle machines are thoroughly practi- 
cable and not difficult to operate. 

It is sometimes a desirable plan to set several hens 
at the time that an incubator is started. Then, at 
the end of ten days or two weeks, the eggs may be 
taken from the hens and placed in the machine to 
take the places of the infertile eggs tested out. Of 
course the eggs under the hens should also be first 
tested, and in this way the twenty-first day brings a 
machine full of chicks in no danger of being stepped 
on by a blundering hen, and free from lice. It is 
also found entirely feasible to hatch the chicks in an 
incubator and raise them under hens just as it is 
to hatch them under hens and raise them in a 
brooder. Both plans are practiced. 

Hatching chicks with hens has one distinct ad- 
vantage. With 70 fertile eggs set under five hens, 
one is almost certain to get a fair number of 
chicks, for even if one hen abandons her nest and 
another crushes her eggs by her clumsy movements, 
there will still be an excellent chance of obtaining 



62 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

a satisfactory number of chickens from under the 
three hens remaining, while if 70 eggs are put into 
a machine and anything goes wrong, the loss prob- 
ably will be total. Such loss becomes greater in 
proportion to the increase in the size of incubator 
used. 

Setting a hen should be a matter of some care, 
but it need not be the solemn rite some people 
make it. A common and simple plan is to arrange 
a row of commodious boxes in a quiet place and 
make the nests for the sitting hens in them, the 
boxes may be set upright and in a row with one 
board over all of them to confine the hens, or they 
may be set on their side with a board in front. 
The use of a single board makes lighter work than 
the construction of a door for each box. The 
board may be removed at a certain hour each day 
and the hens allowed to eat and drink and to dust 
themselves in the box of earth or ashes which should 
be provided for them. 

Some breeders have a little pen in front of each 
nest and allow the hens to come off when they 
please, which means the saving of a little time. 
Sometimes, though, a hen will not voluntarily leave 
the nest as often as she should, in which case she 



HATCHING THE CHICKS 63 

must be gently ousted. If the hen does not eat 
she will become greatly reduced in flesh. 

When a hen becomes broody and the owner de- 
sires to set her, she should be moved from the lay- 
ing house at night and placed in the nest prepared 
for her. A nest egg may be placed under her, and 
her actions when morning comes will determine 
whether she shall be trusted with the eggs to be in- 
cubated. If she is found sitting tight and manifest- 
ing the customary signs of anger when disturbed, 
she may be given the eggs. It is always best to put 
the eggs under the hen rather than to put the hen 
on the eggs. 

The nest itself should have a shovelful of earth at 
the bottom, if possible, with a generous supply of 
fine hay above. It should not be concave, for then 
the eggs will roll to the middle and not separate 
easily if the hen attempts to put her foot between 
them. If the nest is made almost flat with a ridge 
at the outside to keep the eggs from rolling out, 
there will be less danger of broken eggs and yet the 
hen will get all of them under her. 

A free use of some good insect powder like 
Persian Insect or Dalmatian powder, which may be 
bought of any druggist, should be made when the 



64 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

hen begins to sit and once a week thereafter. Hens 
often die when sitting because of the inroads made 
upon their vitality by lice. It is cruel torture that a 
lice-infested hen endures and the owner should make 
it unnecessary by dusting her thoroughly, particu- 
larly under the wings and around the vent, which 
work may easily be done if the hen is held by the 
legs, head down. 

A plan which makes feasible the setting of hens 
in the laying house has some things to commend 
it. Two rows of nests are made, one above the 
other, with a hinged board so arranged that it may 
be used to stop the entrances to the top tier or to 
cover the openings leading to those below. Sitting 
hens are placed in the top nests and the board raised 
so that they are confined. The board also prevents 
other hens from getting into the nests, either to lay 
or to annoy the hens which are sitting. At the time 
of the afternoon feeding, the attendant turns the 
board down so that it covers the lower tier of nests. 
Then the sitting hens are free to fly down and feed 
with the other birds. When they are ready to re- 
turn, they are obliged to enter the top nests because 
the lower ones are protected by the board. If as 
many nests are vacant as there are broody hens, each 



HATCHING THE CHICKS 65 

hen will soon be settled again on a setting of eggs, 
although perhaps not in the nest which she left, for 
hens seem to have a very short memory; it is not 
uncommon for one to leave a nestful of hatchable 
eggs and sit on a China tgg or two. The advan- 
tage of this method lies in the fact that the amount 
of work required is minimized, while hens are much 
more likely to be satisfied when changed from one 
nest to another in the same house than when moved 
to strange quarters. One can never be sure that 
a hen moved from one locality to another will con- 
tinue to sit. 

When a man runs an incubator, he puts all his 
eggs in one nest, as it were. Then he has one ma- 
chine instead of a number of hens to look after. 
Very little work is required, and that not of an 
arduous nature, but painstaking attention to details 
is imperative. Sitting hens will tolerate a certain 
amount of neglect because they are able to adjust 
themselves in some degree to circumstances. When 
using a machine, however, all the intelligence must 
be manifested by the operator. 

It is not wise to buy any but a standard ma- 
chine — such a machine as is generally used on 
large plants, which can afford to test the different 



66 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

makes. It may hold from fifty to about 300 eggs. 
Generally speaking, it is advisable to use an incu- 
bator holding at least 120 eggs, for it will require 
no more attention than a smaller one. It may be 
operated in a cellar, a room in the house or an out- 
building. A fairly even temperature and no drafts 
are to be desired. The machine should not stand 
close to a window or where it will receive direct 
sunlight, for those reasons. The cellar of the 
house often makes an ideal location, but it should 
be well ventilated. Probably the lack of fresh air 
in abundance is one of the most common causes of 
poor hatches. 

If the amateur decides to purchase an incubator 
and operate it in his home, it is well for him first 
to consult his insurance agent; otherwise, he may 
have serious difficulty in collecting his insurance 
money in case of fire from any cause. It is true 
that incubators sometimes get afire, although al- 
most always for the reason that they have not been 
properly cared for, and insurance companies exact a 
small fee for the privilege of using them. 

Before the eggs are put into the machine it should 
be run for a day or two, so that it will become 
thoroughly heated, as well as to ^Uqw the operator 



HATCHING THE CHICKS 6^ 

to become better acquainted with the simple mech- 
anism. It should be regulated so that the ther- 
mometer will show exactly 103. And it is an 
excellent plan, by the way, to have the thermometer 
tested by a physician or druggist, for it is not un- 
usual to find one which is not just true and if the 
amount of variation is known, it can easily be al- 
lowed for. Strangely enough, the fault, if any ex- 
ists, is generally found at the point between 100 
and 103 degrees. Faulty thermometers cause fre- 
quent losses. 

The kerosene oil should be of the best quality that 
can be obtained. Whether to fill the lamps at night 
or in the morning is an open question. If filled 
in the evening one is sure that a strong heat will 
be carried through the night, but if filled in the morn- 
ing, it is easier to check any tendency of the flame 
to run up. A new wick should be used at the be- 
ginning of each hatch and the lamps should always 
be kept perfectly clean, with the wicks trimmed 
daily. Too careful attention cannot be given. 

After the second day, the eggs should be turned 
night and morning. This does not mean that they 
must be directly reversed, but that they should be 
shifted about in order to ensure an even distribution 



68 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

of heat. Some people tack a piece of cardboard 
marked " Day " to one side of the tray and an- 
other marked *' Night " to the other side and make 
it a point to have the former show when the eggs 
are put back in the morning and the latter when 
they are returned to the machine in the evening. 

When the eggs are turned, they may also be 
aired or cooled. This is an important matter, for 
it helps to develop strong chicks. While the eggs 
are out of the machine, the door should be kept 
closed. The extent to which the eggs should be 
cooled depends upon conditions. Of course, they 
can be left out only a short time in very cold 
weather. Perhaps a safe plan for the amateur is 
to place a thermometer on the eggs as soon as they 
have been turned and restore them to the machine 
when the mercury has dropped to 85 degrees. It 
is not necessary to become unduly alarmed if the 
eggs are permitted through inadvertence to become 
cold. The writer once forgot a tray of eggs until 
they had been out an hour. Wondering if it would 
be of any use to continue the hatch, he broke an 
egg and found a live chicken. The eggs were re- 
turned to the machine and heated up quickly, with 
the result that an average hatch was secured. 



HATCHING THE CHICKS 69 

When the eighteenth day closes, cooling and 
turning of the eggs should cease, for the chicks are 
almost ready to hatch. In very dry climates, the 
eggs may then be sprinkled with water at a tempera- 
ture of 103. Much might be written about the 
moisture question, but experts differ and the safest 
plan is to follow implicitly the directions which 
come with the machine. 

On the seventh day the eggs may be tested, and 
it is well to perform this operation again on the 
fifteenth day. The test is made by placing the eggs 
between the eye and a strong light and excluding 
all other light. In practice, a tester which fits over 
a lamp chimney and allows light to come only 
through an opening at one side is the easiest to 
handle, as both hands are left free. When an tgg 
is placed tightly against the frame around the open- 
ing, the contents will be illuminated. If the tgg is 
infertile, it will be entirely clear; if there is a chick 
in it, an opaque spot will indicate its presence. On 
the seventh day this spot will be small and lines will 
radiate in all directions. These lines are blood ves- 
sels running out from the heart. On the fifteenth 
day the chick will be large enough to almost fill the 
shell, appearing as a dark mass. An egg containing 



70 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

a dead germ will be known because it is not clear like 
an infertile one, and yet has no blood lines when 
the seventh day test is made. These eggs should 
be removed and thrown away. The clear eggs may 
be saved and boiled hard for the newly hatched 
chicks. If a considerable number of eggs are tested 
out, eggs from under hens set at the time the ma- 
chine was started, may be substituted. It is always 
well to test the eggs under sitting hens in the same 
way. Then, if the fertile eggs are not desired to 
replenish a machine, it may be possible to give the 
eggs from two hens to one, so releasing one hen. 

A workable tester may be made at home with the 
aid of a breakfast food box. The top should be 
removed and the sides cut away so that the end may 
be made to closely cover the face, shutting out all 
light. Then a hole slightly smaller than an egg may 
be made at the opposite end. If this little device 
is held toward a strong light and an egg placed 
closely against the opening, the testing can be done 
very quickly and easily. 

Another way of testing eggs where there are a 
considerable number is recommended. A light 
board is fitted over a window facing the south and 
a hole made in the board. Then, when the sun is 



HATCHING THE CHICKS 71 

shining brightly, it is only necessary to darken the 
room and hold the eggs over this hole in order to 
test them. If a black curtain fastened to the board 
is dropped over the head, it is not even necessary to 
have the room dark. 

Eggs are often pipped on the twentieth day and 
the chicks should be out by the end of the twenty- 
first day. However, a hatch is delayed or pro- 
longed if the temperature has been low, just as it 
may be hastened by running the temperature high. 
It is a normal hatch when all the chicks appear 
within a few hours and at the proper time. 

It is well to restrain one's impatience and keep the 
door of the incubator closed while the hatch is going 
on, except that near the end some of the shells may 
be removed. The natural heat of the chicks is 
likely to send the thermometer up near the close of 
the hatch and the temperature must be regulated ac- 
cordingly. It is not wise to remove the chicks until 
they are well dried, for they will not need food for 
several hours and are better off in the machine, if 
the latter is not allowed to get too hot. Hatching 
a lot of chickens in an incubator is always an in- 
teresting experience, for the whole process is one of 
the most wonderful of Nature's mysteries. 



Chapter VI 
BROODING THE NEWLY HATCHED CHICKS 

MUCH that is written about the handhng of 
newly hatched chickens has little or no 
significance for the average amateur, be- 
cause he will not have early broods to deal with. 
Chicks coming into the world in January and Feb- 
ruary appear at quite an unseasonable date, accord- 
ing to the laws laid down by Dame Nature, and an 
exceptional amount of time and care must be given 
them. These are special purpose chicks, intended 
for broilers or roasters, and are grown by com- 
mercial poultrymen with the proper equipment for 
raising young stock when the ground is covered with 
snow. 

The amateur poultry keeper, on the contrary, 
will delay hatching until March or later, and will 
find less difficulty in raising his chicks. This is 
especially true if the weather is such that he can get 
them onto the ground at any early age. Hundreds 

72 



BROODING THE CHICKS 73 

of chickens are killed by kindness. Too much 
coddling is as fatal as neglect. 

Chicks running with a hen occasion but little 
trouble. The coop should be large enough so that 
the hen will have plenty of room to move about with- 
out trampling on the chickens, and should have a 
board floor if out of doors early in the season. 
After the weather becomes warm, earth floors are 
better. Sand should be spread over the floor and 
over that, after the first few days, a litter of hay 
cut into short lengths or chaff from the barn, the 
latter being preferable to anything else. 

The chicks will need nothing to eat for at least 
thirty-six hours and may go longer without suffer- 
ing at all with hunger. Some kind-hearted but 
mistaken people have insisted that it is cruel to 
withhold food from a newly hatched chick, but ex- 
perience has shown the wisdom of doing so. It is 
true that a chick will try to eat as soon as it can 
balance itself on its legs, but this is not because of 
a sense of hunger, and it is just as well satisfied with 
sand. That is the reason the floor of the coop 
should be sprinkled with sharp sand ; the chick eats a 
little and so obtains the grit which will aid it in di- 
gesting real food when it comes. 



74 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Truth to tell, chickens seem practically devoid of 
intelligence the first week of their existence. They 
will peck at anything within reach, having an 
especial fondness, apparently, for the eyes of the 
hen mothering them, and will eat sawdust as readily 
as anything else. At the end of seven or eight days 
they appear to reach the age of discretion, for after 
that time they cannot easily be fooled on the subject 
of food. 

Some persons make the feeding of young chicks 
a highly complex matter. It need not be unless they 
are to be raised for a special purpose, aside from 
that of producing eggs. Hard-boiled eggs are the 
time-honored first meal, after the sand, and make a 
ration which is entirely satisfactory, but not neces- 
sary by any means. If the infertile eggs tested out 
have been saved, it is wise and economical to use 
them in this way. Bread soaked in milk and 
squeezed fairly dry may well be given the first two 
or three days. One of the best plans is to feed very 
young grass or, better still, clover cut into very short 
pieces. Too much stress cannot be laid on the value 
of grass and clover for young stock of all ages. 
Common oat meal is an excellent ration for chicks 
just hatched and may be fed freely. 



BROODING THE CPTICKS 75 

After two or three days of using baby feeds of 
the kinds mentioned, it is customary to change to 
regular chick grain. As a matter of fact, the com- 
mercial chick foods, which are altogether the best 
for the amateur to use, may be fed from the very 
first. After a few weeks he can change to cracked 
wheat, cracked corn and Kaffir corn if he desires, 
or he may keep right on with the commercial chick 
feeds, which are a combination of many grains, in- 
cluding kinds which the chicks like particularly well 
and which they will work hard to get. If a soft 
feed which is likely to sour is used at first, feeding 
time should come four or five times a day, but if oat 
meal or the regular chick feeds are depended upon, 
three times a day is often enough from the first, 
when the chicks are with a hen. There may be 
grain in the litter all the time, but no harm will be 
done, for the chicks will be guided by the hen to a 
large extent in the matter of eating and she seems 
to have a proper instinct about these matters. If 
there is too much food in sight, she probably will 
cover it up. 

After the tenth day a hopper of ground feed and 
beef scraps may well be kept within reach of the 
chicks at all times. They will eat a lot of it and 



yd THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

will thrive on it. This feed may be one of the pre- 
pared growing rations, so called, sold at the stores 
and containing many kinds of ground grain, as well 
as beef or fish scraps and alfalfa, or it may be noth- 
ing more than plain wheat bran with ten per cent, 
of good beef scraps added. Many good chicken 
growers are well satisfied to use this very inex- 
pensive ration year after year. 

The value of grass has been mentioned. Green 
stuff of some kind is essential. Broken pieces of 
lettuce and other vegetables are relished. Cut al- 
falfa may be bought if there is nothing at home 
available, but a little cold frame will serve to grow 
plenty of lettuce early in the season. Sprouted oats 
are excellent. They are prepared by soaking the 
oats over night in warm water and then spreading 
them in a box, having holes for drainage, so that 
they will cover the bottom one or two inches, and 
keeping them moist by sprinkling them daily. If 
kept in a warm place, they will soon throw out 
sprouts and may be fed wdien the sprouts are an inch 
long. It is better not to feed the roots to very young 
chicks. 

Water should be given the chickens from the first 
day, but in a receptacle of such shape that they can- 



I 



BROODING THE CHICKS j^ 

not climb into it and get wet. Chick fountains 
may be purchased cheaply, but are easily made at 
home by the combination of a tin can and a flower 
pot saucer. One end of the can should be removed 
and one side at that end pushed or hammered in. 
Then the can may be filled with water, the saucer 
placed over it and the can quickly inverted. The 
saucer will be found partly filled with water and 
more will run out as that is consumed. The same 
result is secured by making a hole in the side of the 
can just below the edge of the saucer, the latter be- 
ing large enough so that the chicks can drink around 
the sides of the saucer. Many people adopt the 
simple expedient of filling a small dish with water 
and putting a half brick or a stone in the middle, 
so that the chickens cannot get into the water. 

Chick grit should be kept in the coop and it is also 
well to have a little charcoal where it is always ac- 
cessible. Nothing has been said about wet mashes 
for chicks. All that need be said now is that they 
are not to be recommended, especially for the 
amateur, who wants the nearest approach to a safe 
and sure method of raising his chicks. Yes, it is 
true that our grandmothers fed sloppy mashes and 
raised a fair percentage of their chicks. It is a 



78 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

mystery, though, how they did it. And anyway, 
what is the use of going to the time and trouble of 
mixing a mash when a Httle dry feed can be scat- 
tered in the htter in a quarter of the time? 

It is usually considered wise to keep the hen con- 
fined to the coop while the chicks are allowed to run 
at large, but the youngsters should not be allowed 
their freedom until the dew has disappeared from 
the grass, if they have a grass run. And the hen — 
patient old mother — should not be forgotten. 
Plenty of whole or cracked corn and some oats may 
be given her, at first in a tall dish that the chicks 
cannot get into, and she should have water always 
at hand. Likewise, she should be dusted at least 
once a week with a lice powder, well worked into 
the feathers, so that the chicks will get some bene- 
fit from it. 

Chicks with a hen are certain to suffer from the 
plague of lice. K neglected, they may die from the 
inroads upon their vitality made by these pests. 
When chicks stand around moping, it is time to get 
out the dusting box. The chicks ought never to 
reach this stage, though, for an application of pow- 
der made at night when the hen has been lifted off, 
should be a weekly practice, beginning the first day. 




A simple tireless brooder iii which a few chicks may be 
raised in the house 




The slanting board prevents the hens scratching the grain 
out of the trough 



BROODING THE CHICKS 79 

A very little lard rubbed on the head of the chicks 
will help, too. 

Chicks reared in a brooder require more attention 
than those raised with a hen, although, happily, the 
lice nuisance is escaped, at least, for the first few 
weeks. The lice seem to appear even on incubator 
and brooder chicks after a time, coming from no- 
body knows where. However, when a hen has the 
chicks, you can scatter chick feed generously in the 
litter and go away for the day with a reasonable ex- 
pectation that biddy will look after matters while 
you are gone and that the youngsters will be safe 
and happy when you get back. But you can't play 
truant when using a brooder. Feeding must be 
done regularly and the heat must be properly regu- 
lated. If the chicks get too hot or get chilly, the 
results are likely to be equally unpleasant. And 
yet, running a brooder is not an irksome or difficult 
task. Of course, something depends upon the time 
of year. If the season is well advanced and the 
chicks can be put on the ground early, the work is 
made easier. There are both indoor and outdoor 
brooders. The latter may actually be used out of 
doors with the ground covered with snow and in 
zero weather, but caring for them is not a job to be 



8o THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

welcomed. Later in the season, they give excel- 
lent satisfaction. 

The chicks should not be removed to the brooder 
until thoroughly dry, and it is well to start the 
brooder lamp by the time the eggs begin to pip, so 
that it will be nicely heated and ready for the chicks 
as soon as the chicks are ready for it. The floor 
should be sanded like the hen's coop and a supply 
of clover or alfalfa cut into short lengths for litter 
provided. The heat should be from ninety-five to 
a hundred degrees for the first week and decreased 
at the rate of five degrees a week thereafter, making 
the reductions gradually, of course. When the 
chicks are put into the brooder they will run up the 
temperature several degrees, which should be an- 
ticipated. 

Although the thermometer is necessary, observa- 
tion will determine more accurately the degree of 
comfort which the chicks are enjoying. If they 
are found stretched on the floor and panting, the 
heat is too great; if they huddle closely, it is insuf- 
ficient. If they settle down contentedly slightly 
apart, perhaps with some heads sticking through the 
felt, they are satisfactory proof that the heat is 
just right. Lack of ventilation is a frequent cause 



BROODING THE CHICKS 8i 

of trouble. The brooder chicks need fresh air in 
abundance. This point is too often overlooked. 

After a few days the chicks may be allowed brief 
excursions outside the hover, but in order to prevent 
their getting lost, it is well to make a little yard of 
poultry netting arranged in a half circle, so that as 
a chick moves along it, he will be guided back into 
the hover and comfort. Corners should be avoided ; 
chicks get into them and huddle there until chilled. 

The same kind of feed as that described for 
broods with hens will answer as well for brooder 
orphans. It should be fed regularly, though, and 
four times a day for two weeks. Too much should 
not be given at a time, the purpose being to keep 
the youngsters busy from daylight until darkness, 
except at napping times. They will soon learn to 
scratch in the litter. The mash should be given at 
ten days. If a commercial growing mash is not 
available and something more than bran and beef 
scraps is desired, a very good mash may be made by 
combining three parts of bran, one part of corn 
meal, one part of middlings and one part of high- 
grade beef scraps. There is an easy way of mixing 
a mash of this kind, which is worth knowing about 
if there is much mash to be made. If a revolving 



S2 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

churn is secured and the various ingredients put into 
it, a few brisk revolutions of the handle will blend 
the mixture perfectly. 

Fireless brooders are much in evidence and ap- 
parently have come to stay. Although not having 
the wide latitude of usefulness first promised, they 
often can be made to serve the amateur very well 
indeed, and cost only a dollar or two. Indeed, such 
a brooder is easily made at home with the aid of 
a cheese box, from which top and bottom have been 
removed. An opening is cut for the chicks and a 
piece of burlap tacked over the top, being allowed 
to sag in the middle. The interior is partly filled 
with hay and as much padding placed on top as may 
seem necessary. 

A well-ventilated room is the best place for the 
fireless brooder until the weather becomes warm, 
when the porch proves an excellent location. Fresh 
air in abundance is most important. The chief dif- 
ficulty in the use of fireless brooders is to induce 
the chicks to go in after they all have come out. 
Of course, the brooder is warm only when it con- 
tains the chicks, for it is the plan of the device that 
the occupants shall generate their own heat. Con- 
sequently, when it is not warm, there is no induce- 



BROODING THE CHICKS 83 

ment for the chicks to enter. This difficulty is 
overcome by placing a hot water bottle on top of 
the brooder. That provides the warmth needed 
and acts like a magnet. Once the chicks get the 
habit of running into the brooder when cold, they 
will keep it up after the water bag has been re- 
moved and will keep each other warm. When only 
a few chicks are to be raised and after the season 
is well advanced, the fireless brooder is to be recom- 
mended. 

After the chicks are gotten onto the ground, they 
will make rapid progress, but must be protected 
from hawks and cats. There is no better place 
for them to run than a patch of corn, where they 
will be safe from the hawks and will have ade- 
quate shade. Wherever confined, shade of some 
kind must be given or growth will be checked. An 
orchard run is good, but it must be remembered that 
after grass gets old, it is so tough that young chicks 
cannot eat it, and so must be given other green 
stuff. When the young birds are eight or nine 
weeks old, the sexes should be separated for best 
results. The surplus cockerels should be fattened 
and marketed, and by the first of October the pullets 
should be in their winter quarters. 



Chapter VII 
HOW TO GET EGGS IN WINTER 

WHEN eggs are sixty cents a dozen, the 
amateur finds no little delight in bring- 
ing in a daily basketful from his poultry 
house. Unfortunately, though, he is often denied 
this privilege. All too frequently the hens refuse 
to do their part. 

Getting eggs in Winter is a problem which has 
received much attention. It is no longer a matter 
of hit or miss. Given pullets which reach the lay- 
ing age before settled cold weather, house them in 
their permanent winter quarters by the first of 
October, keep these quarters dry and free from 
drafts, but with fresh air entering in abundance at 
all times, keep a deep litter on the floor so that the 
hens will be obliged to scratch energetically and per- 
sistently for their grain, give them a wide variety 
of rations, and the eggs will be reasonably sure to 
come. The better the strain, the larger the num- 
ber of eggs. 

84 



HOW TO GET EGGS IN WINTER 85 

There are no secrets about the production of win- 
ter eggs. It is just a matter of foresight and care. 
Pullets undoubtedly are the best layers. Hens in 
their second year will lay fairly well, but it is bet- 
ter to start fresh with pullets each season. Hens 
that molt very late will not prove profitable to keep. 
If pullets are hatched too early, they may molt the 
same season, which is not desirable. And yet if 
hatched too late they will not begin laying until 
after the New Year. Leghorns will lay when from 
five to six months old. Some Plymouth Rocks 
commence laying at six months. The other hens 
in the same classes begin laying at about the same 
ages. The larger breeds like the Brahmas require 
more time before producing their first eggs. In or- 
der to make sure of winter eggs, the pullets should 
reach the laying age in October. If they are neg- 
lected during the Summer, they will not lay as early 
as though given good care, which is entirely logical. 

As a rule, hens lay better in flocks of not over 
thirty. And yet, some of the most successful tgg 
farmers keep 500 birds together and get satisfactory 
results. Long houses give the fowls plenty of room 
when there are no partitions, which is an advantage. 
The average c^m^teur, however, will not carry more 



86 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

than fifty hens, so that this matter of large flocks 
will interest him only in an academic way. 

The use of litter on the floor is most important. 
It may be two or three inches deep at the beginning 
of the season and more thrown in as the first be- 
comes broken into fine pieces. Of course, there is 
such a thing as having it too deep. The main 
thing is to keep the hens working early and late 
seeking food. A little millet or hemp seed in the 
litter will act as an extra inducement to scratch en- 
ergetically and persistently. 

It must be remembered that in mid- Winter the 
hens keep short hours. \\^ith two-thirds of their 
time spent on the roost, they should have no time 
to waste during the day. The poultry keeper wants 
them to eat all they will and a busy hen has a much 
better appetite than one which stands around idly. 

Green food is essential. Sprouted oats have been 
mentioned in another chapter. Wheat and barley 
may be sprouted in the same way. Some amateurs 
who are handy with tools make a little frame which 
contains four or five trays on which the grains are 
spread after they have been soaked over night in 
warm water. The bottoms of the trays have slats 
placed so closely together that the grain will not 



HOW TO GET EGGS IN WINTER 87 

pass through although the water will drain away, 
or are covered wath copper screen cloth, copper be- 
ing used because it does not rust. The water sprin- 
kled on the top tray w^ll work down and wet the 
grain in all the trays underneath. 

Of course the hens should be given all the water 
they need, as well as grit and oyster shells. A box 
of charcoal is also worth while. It is even more im- 
portant in W' inter than in Summer to provide every- 
thing that is needed for the making of eggs and to 
keep the hens in first-class condition. 

Few people realize to what extent eggs are af- 
fected by the food given. An experiment was tried 
at one of the agricultural colleges a few years ago. 
Limburger cheese was fed to a number of hens and 
when the eggs from these hens were broken, the 
odor alone was sufficient to prove the truth of the 
theory. Some of the eggs strayed to the presi- 
dent's table, it is reported, through an oversight, 
and — well, what the president said has not been 
recorded. 

In order to have the highest grade eggs, and of 
course the amateur wants no other kind, only the 
best grain should be fed. Likewise, the water 
should be fresh at least once a day. It is well to 



88 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

gather the eggs twice a day, at least ; otherwise some 
of them may be incubated by the succession of lay- 
ing hens for several hours. If the eggs are fertile, 
this is enough to start the germ into development. 

As a matter of fact, it is better to have no male 
bird with the flock. There probably will be more 
eggs and less danger of broken ones. If an tgg 
is broken in the nest, it should be removed from the 
pen. If thrown on the floor, the habit of eating 
eggs may be established. The nest should be thor- 
oughly cleaned out and fresh hay substituted. 

The color of the yolks is influenced by the feed- 
ing. Yolks which are yellow to an objectional de- 
gree indicate an almost exclusive diet of corn. Al- 
falfa, clover and grass clippings tend to give the 
yolks a rich shade of yellow, just as they affect the 
color of milk. Rape fed to excess gives a very pale 
shade to the yolks, over-much cabbage makes them 
thin. 

Eggs should be kept in a cool, dry place. Dry- 
ness is very important because germs cannot pene- 
trate the membrane of the tgg unless it becomes 
moist. Sometimes eggs absorb the odors of other 
food stored close by, if highly scented like bananas 
and onions. 



HOW TO GET EGGS IN WINTER 89 

It is useless to expect the hens to lay well if they 
are preyed upon by lice, so that a dust bath is very 
necessary, unless there is an earth floor into which 
the birds can burrow. A few upright boards may 
be fastened together to make a dusting place and 
earth or ashes with a little lime added given for 
the dusting material. Coal ashes are good except 
that they tend to rob the plumage of its luster. 
Hens like coal ashes and will eat many of them. 
Dry sand is often used, but the fowls seem to pre- 
fer heavier earth. It is well for the amateur to lay 
in a barrel of earth or road dust in the Fall to be 
used in the course of the Winter. Whenever hens 
are purchased, it is advisable to give them a thor- 
ough application of lice powder, dusting it with a 
generous hand into the fluff around the vent. 

If the fowls are slow in beginning to lay, a little 
green cut bone may help start them. It is doubt- 
ful whether the average amateur is justified in the 
purchase of a bone cutter, but in many large cities 
it is possible to buy green cut bone ready for use. 
Of course, it must be fed at once, as it will keep 
but a short time. 

Another plan is to try feeding a warm crumbly 
mash, containing a liberal amount of beef scraps or 



90 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

meat of any kind, once a day two or three times a 
week. A teaspoonful of mustard for each twenty- 
five hens may be included in this mash, which, for 
the rest, may be made of two parts bran, one part of 
ground oats and one part of corn meal. 

A laying hen is usually a singing hen. Likewise, 
the hens which are off the roost first in the morning 
and on the last at night may be put down pretty 
safely as being good layers. It pays the amateur 
to spend a little time with his flock; he can learn 
a lot in that way. A\'hen a hen is laying well, her 
comb is full and bright red. She may begin lay- 
ing before her comb gets its color after the molting 
period, however, but it will gradually become fiery. 

Th.ere should be enough nests so that the hens 
will not break the eggs by crowding. It is a gen- 
eral rule to allow one nest to five hens. If the 
amateur seeks to build up an egg-laying strain, he 
can make use of trap nests providing he has suf- 
ficient time so that he can gi\e them the attention 
they require. These nests hold the liens which have 
laid until an attendant has released them and by 
banding a leg on each hen and keeping a record, it 
is possible to tell just how many eggs each hen lays 



HOW TO GET EGGS IN WINTER 91 

in a given period. Then the best egg producers 
may be used for breeding stock. 

With a trap nest it is possible to identify the hens 
which lay the large eggs and those which go onto 
the nest but seldom lay an Qgg. In fact, it gives 
the poultry keeper a working knowledge of his flock 
not to be obtained in any other way. Trap nests 
require close attention, of course, but not so much 
of the poultry keeper's time as might be imagined, 
if there are nests enough. Allowing a nest to every 
four hens, he will not have to visit the poultry 
house oftener than four times a day, and no hen will 
be confined long enough to suffer, unless the weather 
be very warm, and trap nests are not commonly 
used in the warm season. 

There is a simple plan by which the results se- 
cured by the trap nest may be approximated with 
but little trouble to the attendant. A box contain- 
ing a nest is placed in the partition between two pens, 
one end of the box being open while a trap door is 
arranged at the other end, so that the hens can en- 
ter but not leave that way. The hens may be put 
into the first pen in the morning and as fast as 
they lay will pass into the second pen, so that when 



92 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

night comes it is an easy matter to decide which 
hens have laid during the day. Ha male bird is 
placed in the second pen, the hens which lay and 
pass into that pen may confidently be used as breed- 
ers. Of course, some hens will go onto the nest but 
not lay, so that this test is not quite as accurate 
as that imposed by a regulation trap nest. 

The average amateur, however, will hardly take 
the trouble to trap-nest his birds. A simpler plan 
is to select and mark the pullets which lay first in 
the Fall and use them to breed from. Experiments 
have shown that the pullets which begin laying earli- 
est also make the heaviest layers, as a general rule. 
These pullets may well be kept until the second year 
and then mated with a well-developed cockerel. 

Poor flocks may be improved by securing a male 
bird from a breeder who is known to have a good 
laying strain. Yet, it is not wise to continually 
introduce new blood. H the first cock bought for 
improving the flock proves satisfactory and another 
is needed later, it is well to secure it from the same 
source. Males from eggs laid by heavy-laying hens 
are to be sought. They transmit the trait to the 
pullets they sire. 

Old hens should not be kept with pullets as a 



HOW TO GET EGGS IN WINTER 93 

rule. They require rather different treatment. If 
you are going to keep over a number of extra good 
hens to use as breeders in the Spring, they should 
not be forced as hard as the pullets. Fowls forced 
for eggs are not in proper condition to make good 
breeding stock when the breeding season comes. 
All the other left-over stock should be disposed of 
before the pullets are put into winter quarters. 
They will bring low prices if kept until November or 
December. 

It will be seen from all this that there is no royal 
road to winter Qgg production. It is all a question 
of properly hatched hens, properly reared and prop- 
erly fed. The requisites are not numerous, after 
all, but they are exceedingly important. 



Chapter VIII 
KEEPING POULTRY ON A TOWN LOT 

THE no-yard system makes it possible to 
keep a few hens on a very small lot. To 
be sure, this is not the best system, all 
things considered, but it offers a very satisfactory 
solution of the poultry -keeping problem where only 
a little land is available. By a little land is meant 
enough to provide the site for a house 10x12 or 
smaller, with sufficient open space around to admit 
air in abundance and sunlight for at least four or 
five hours every day. When this system is fol- 
lowed, the hens never leave the house. In order 
that the birds may be kept in good condition when 
confined so closely, the house should have unusually 
large openings in front, with muslin curtains to 
drop wiien the weather becomes exceptionally cold 
or when the rain beats in. If the Summers are very 
hot, something in the way of an awning may be 
needed to protect the fowls; a hinged shutter is often 
used. The house may also be made cooler by cut- 

94 



POULTRY ON A TOWN LOT 95 

ting an opening in the rear wall just under the roof, 
with a shutter to cover it when the weather is cold. 

At least four square feet of floor space should be 
allowed each bird when this system is followed, and 
the nests and all the furnishings should be high 
enough so that the hens can walk under them, mak- 
ing the whole floor area available. It is customary 
for amateurs who keep hens on the no-yard plan 
to buy pullets in the Fall, and to dispose of their 
old hens as fast as they stop laying in the course 
of the Summer. Before the new flock is installed, 
the house should be thoroughly sprayed with a lice 
paint or with kerosene in which a little carbolic acid 
has been mixed, or the interior may be whitewashed. 

New litter should be substituted for the old, and 
it is well to replace an inch or two of the earth, if 
earth floors are used, with fresh sand. Cleanliness 
is one of the most important matters when hens are 
confined closely and the amateur will inevitably find 
that eternal vigilance in this matter is the price of 
success, especially in Summer, when vermin multiply 
with exceeding rapidity. It will be necessary to re- 
move all the fixtures frequently and wash or spray 
them with kerosene or a liquid lice killer and to 
frequently renew the nesting material. 



96 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

A spray pump is a great convenience as well as a 
saver of time. An air sprayer, which may be pur- 
chased for less than eight dollars, is especially de- 
sirable, for it may be charged with a few strokes of 
the plunger and then slung over the shoulder by a 
strap, while the operator guides the stream in any 
desired direction and regulates it with a thumb 
screw. Whitewash may be used in this machine, 
if it is mixed thin, and the amount of time needed 
to cover the walls greatly reduced. Incidentally, a 
spray pump may also be used to advantage in the 
garden when insect pests make their appearance. 

When the no-yard system is followed, the floor 
must be kept covered with litter at all times, for 
the hens must be induced to exercise. And of 
course there must be water always at hand, for 
each laying hen averages to drink half a pint a day 
when the weather is warm. The water dish ought 
to be refilled several times a day in Summer, if this 
is feasible, in order that the hens may find the water 
palatable. In Winter, the water is likely to freeze 
after a short exposure to the cold. Water as warm 
as the hand can be borne in it may be given, in 
order to lengthen the time which will elapse before 
it turns to ice. 



POULTRY ON A TOWN LOT 97 

Often the problem is not lack of land as much 
as lack of time. Many commuters would like to 
keep a few hens if they did not find it necessary 
to leave home early in the morning, perhaps with 
no assurance of getting home again until after dark. 
If the wife or some other member of the family 
may be interested in the hen-keeping project, the 
birds will not suffer for lack of feed and water; but 
it frequently happens that nobody in the family 
wants to bother with them — and the work is a 
bother unless one has a genuine liking for well-bred 
poultry. 

There is a way of meeting this difficulty and keep- 
ing even a good-sized flock with only ten or fifteen 
minutes attention each day and with an extra hour 
on Saturday or Sunday, when a general cleaning 
may be indulged in. By means of a patent feeder 
and exerciser which costs $2.50 and a patent water 
fountain costing one dollar, combined with the use 
of hoppers for dry mash, as already described, the 
commuting poultry keeper can entirely dispense with 
daily feeding and watering. 

The feeder holds from eight to thirty-two quarts 
of grain, a few kernels of which drop out every time 
a bait bar under the machine is moved. This bar 



98 THE HO:\IE POULTRY BOOK 

is made of wire netting and filled with cracked corn. 
None of this corn escapes, but the hens see it and 
peck at it. The slight blow is enough to turn the 
bar a trifle and down comes a shower of corn, 
w^hich is scattered by a deflector in a wide, even 
circle. If there is a little litter on the floor, the 
hens will scratch in lively fashion for a few min- 
utes, after w^hich another peck at the bait bar will 
result in another deluge of grain. In this way, the 
fowls are kept active and there is no w^aste of feed. 
All that falls out is eaten and neither mice nor birds 
can extract any from the feeder. When the hens 
tire a bit of this exercise or of the food which it 
brings them, they turn to the hoppers of mash. 
These hoppers may be large enough so that they will 
not require filling oftener than once a fortnight and 
the grain feeder will contain enough for from two 
to three days to a week or more, depending upon 
the size and the number of hens using it. 

The water fountain is attached to a butter tub, 
which is the reservoir, one filling of which will 
suffice for several days. The tub is covered, so 
that the water is kept clean, and the fountain is so 
constructed that the water is always several degrees 
cooler than the atmosphere. This is, of course, a 



POULTRY ON A TOWN LOT 99 

summer arrangement. For Winter, a fountain with 
a safety lamp attachment may be used, the heat be- 
ing just sufficient to keep the water from freezing 
at any time. 

Such devices as these simpHfy poultry keeping to 
a remarkable extent, and eliminate the " haven't 
time to look after hens " excuse. And the flock 
does not suffer when they are used, the disadvan- 
tages being the fact that the hens do not become as 
tame as when an attendant is among them frequently 
and that it is not so easy for the owner to observe 
the condition of the various individuals in the 
flock. 

Feeder and fountain may be used out of doors in 
Summer, if deemed desirable, care being taken to 
place the fountain in a shaded spot. The feeder 
gives excellent results when standing on sod, the 
grass taking the place of litter. /\11 of these de- 
vices may be used for chickens as well as for ma- 
ture hens, although it is hardly a wise plan to let 
the young stock go all day without being looked at 
occasionally, to make sure all things are going well. 

Plowing or spading the poultry yard is the ounce 
of prevention worth a pound of cure. Probably no 
one cause has resulted in the untimely demise of 



lOO THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

more chickens than tainted ground, li possible, the 
youngsters should be raised each year on ground 
which has not been used for poultry since a green 
crop of some kind has been grown on it. Plowing 
up the land and sowing oats or rye will help to 
purify the soil. If the land used for the young 
chickens can be planted to winter rye in the Fall, a 
double purpose will be accomplished, for the ground 
will be put into condition for chicken raising the 
next season and the rye will give the hens green 
food in Winter, for they can be allowed to range 
over it when there is no snow on the ground. 

Where there is little land, the chicks with hens 
may be confined in small coops easily made of dry 
goods boxes with a chicken wire run. The end of 
the run miay be divided into a small feeding com- 
partment for the chicks by making a partition of 
laths far enough apart so that the young birds can 
pass freely through, li fed here the chicks can 
be given any kind of food and it will not be wasted 
or spoiled by the hen. If coop and run are made 
solid, that arrangement is an advantage, for the 
whole outfit can easily be moved by two people and 
a shift every few days will keep the chicks always 
on fresh ground. Even when it is safe to give the 



POULTRY ON A TOWN LOT loi 

chicks free range, it is best to confine the hen if 
the poultry plant is on a town lot. 

Sometimes it is difficult to get enough green stuff 
for the hens and chicks if the town lot is a small 
one. Usually, though, it is possible to find a few 
feet of ground where Dwarf Essex rape can be 
sown. Seed put into the ground on Decoration 
Day has yielded a cutting by the first of July, an 
illustration of the rapidity with which this crop 
grows. A few rows of rape will produce enough 
green food to supply a small flock of hens all Sum- 
mer. 

In the Fall, it often is possible to buy imperfect 
heads of cabbage for which farmers or market gar- 
deners have no regular market, and at a very low 
price. The cabbage may be stored on the north 
side of a building under a foot of soil, with straw, 
leaves or cornstalks as additional protection. 

A considerable number of mangel wurzel beets 
can be raised in a small space and may be stored 
in any vegetable cellar. It is not economy to cut 
them into small pieces; a better plan is to split 
them in half and drive a spike through them into 
a board. Then the soft part will be eaten out with- 
out loss. A hot bed is a decided advantage, if the 



102 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

man with a little land has time to look after it, for 
lettuce can be grown all Winter. Swiss chard 
started in the Summer can be kept along several 
months by covering it with a cold frame. 

H the town-lot poultry keeper cares for the com- 
fort and craves the respect of his neighbors, he will 
make it a point to keep his hens and chickens con- 
fined to his own premises, and he will not have a 
rooster. The matter of fencing is important, for 
some hens fly high. Yet a very high fence is ob- 
jectionable, li six feet of wire will not keep the 
fowls out of the neighbors' garden patches, a strip 
of netting a foot wide should be run around the 
top, covering the yard to that extent. When the 
hens try to fly out, they will meet this obstruction 
and be thrown back. Most hens find it difficult to 
scale a fence unless they can see the top and so 
gauge their distance. For that reason, there should 
never be a bar at the top of the wire. If a bar 
is needed for appearance or support, let it be more 
than a foot below the top. 

It is a great convenience to have a gate wide 
enough so that a wheel-barrow will pass through 
and to have it swing both ways, with springs to shut 
it. When an amateur puts up a poultry fence, the 



POULTRY ON A TOWN LOT 103 

gate usually gives the most trouble, if he does the 
work himself, so it is well to know that a gate with- 
out the wire may be bought for one dollar. 

When a single hen escapes from a poultry yard, 
she commonly displays as much anxiety about get- 
ting in again as she did about getting out. Yet she 
is not willingly cornered and caught. There is a 
way to get such hens back into the yard without any 
effort on the part of the owner. As all poultry 
keepers have observed, a hen will run along the en- 
tire length of a wire fence, pressing against it and 
trying to find an opening. Let the amateur poultry- 
man make a little gate and fit it over an opening at 
the bottom of the fence just large enough to admit 
a hen. Let him have this gate open into the yard 
only, and so hung that it will close automatically 
but yield to gentle pressure. This may be done by 
the proper placing of the hinges. As the hen out- 
side the pale pecks along the fence, she presently 
comes to this little gate. Finding that it yields, she 
pushes against it a little harder. Behold, it flies 
open. She walks in and the gate closes behind her. 
Obviously, it cannot be opened from within and so 
makes a perfect self-acting trap for wandering birds. 

A flock of twenty-five hens given intensive cul- 



I04 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

ture, as it were, on a town lot, should produce a 
considerable larger number of eggs than the average 
family will use. On many days the hens should lay 
from 12 to 15 eggs, perhaps more. There is sure 
to be a good sale for these eggs at a very satisfactory 
price, if the poultry keeper cares to deliver them 
properly packed in tgg boxes. Care should be 
taken to have them absolutely fresh, for a single 
bad tgg is sufficient to ruin the seller's reputation 
as a reliable hen man. The parcel post offers an 
excellent way of shipping eggs to a few city cus- 
tomers. 

It pays to put eggs of the same color and size in 
a box, as appearance counts for much, li an tgg 
becomes dirty in the nest or afterwards, it should 
not be washed, but wiped with a damp cloth. Egg 
shells are porous. Clean nests are important be- 
cause an Qgg is moist when it is laid, so that dirt 
adheres to it. Many commuters have regular cus- 
tomers in the buildings where they are employed 
and the square, neatly wrapped parcels so often seen 
in the hands of incoming suburbanites spell, to the 
initiated, fresh eggs. 



Chapter IX 
RAISING FANCY POULTRY AS A PASTIME 

PROBABLY no hobby or pastime occupies the 
leisure moments of so many doctors, minis- 
ters and other professional men as the rais- 
ing of thoroughbred poultry. Hundreds of business 
men, too, and many women breed fancy stock be- 
cause they enjoy owning and working with a flock 
of aristocratic birds. A visit to any poultry show 
will lead one into the company of people from many 
different walks in life, but all finding a common in- 
terest in well-bred fowls. 

Breeding high-class stock does not necessarily 
mean, though, that it is to be exhibited. Many peo- 
ple are satisfied with the pleasure which comes from 
the owning of good birds. The number of ama- 
teurs entering a few birds in the big shows is con- 
stantly growing, however, and the judging is 
followed with keen interest by men of wealth and 
position, who are in the game only because they en- 
joy the good-natured rivalry and competition. The 

105 



io6 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

fraternity of poultry fanciers covers the whole coun- 
try and its members are enthusiasts. They are or- 
ganized into a national body known as the Amer- 
ican Poultry Association and most of the popular 
breeds are represented by specialty clubs. 

In order to have poultry eligible for admission to 
a show, one must work along somewhat different 
lines from the utility breeder. The birds must con- 
form to certain requirements set down in a book 
called the American Standard of Perfection and if 
they possess various defects in form or otherwise 
will be disqualified at the start and receive no con- 
sideration. The birds in some shows are judged by 
comparison and in some shows scored. Scoring is 
an advantage to the amateur, as it shows him in what 
points his birds are weak. 

If money counts with the amateur, the ability to 
breed birds scoring high and winning important 
prizes will prove a source of no little profit. The 
writer enjoys the friendly acquaintance of a clergy- 
man who keeps about lOO thoroughbred Plymouth 
Rocks on a tow^n lot. A few years ago he began 
showing a few birds each year and was gratified 
to be awarded a number of premiums. Other 
breeders noted his birds and his winnings and be- 



FANCY POULTRY AS A PASTIME 107 

gan writing him for eggs and stock. Now his 
bank account is annually swelled to a substantial 
degree — being a minister, it was never very large 
— by the profits he receives from his fancy fowls. 

However, it takes skill and experience to breed 
prize winning poultry. Some people never acquire 
the knack, while to others it seems to come naturally. 
The best way to begin is to buy a trio of carefully 
bred birds of the breed decided upon from a man 
who has a well-earned reputation at stake. Fifty 
dollars is not too much to pay for a male and two 
hens of really first-class stock. If that is more than 
the beginner can afford, he can buy less high priced 
birds, of course. An even less expensive w^ay to 
begin is to buy a setting of eggs from a pen of 
high-grade birds. Starting with the best stock one 
can afford, simply puts one that much farther ahead. 

Having secured birds from a good strain, the 
amateur who works intelligently will seek to per- 
petuate the qualities of that strain. To carelessly 
introduce the blood of another strain would be rank 
folly. If a trio of birds has been purchased from 
a breeder who is wholly dependable, the amateur 
may be reasonably sure that the mating will pro- 
duce good chickens. The pullets hatched may be 



io8 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

bred to the original male the next season and 
again the following Spring as mature hens. Then 
additional hens may be secured of the breeder from 
whom the first purchase was made and mated with 
a cock descended from the original male or with that 
very bird. This plan will prevent too close inbreed- 
ing. 

The cockerels used for breeding ought to be prac- 
tically counterparts of their sire, this being an in- 
dication that the points which make the latter 
desirable are well fixed. For the rest, the amateur 
breeder must learn by experience and study how 
to make his matings in order to get the best results. 
By keeping a copy of the Standard of Perfection, 
costing $2.00, close at hand, he will be able to learn 
just the shape, weight, color and markings which a 
perfect bird of his favorite breed would have to 
possess. This will be his guide. 

It often happens that hens bred strictly for fancy 
purposes will not lay as well as strains developed 
for utility. Egg production is neglected in order to 
secure certain physical characteristics. This is nat- 
ural and the amateur should not expect to develop 
a strain along both utility and fancy lines. More- 
over, the fancier wants to give his chickens every 




All light-colored birds need to be thoroughly w 
fore they are entered in a show 



FANCY POULTRY AS A PASTIME 109 

possible advantage and so will not force his breed- 
ing stock for eggs. He will, on the contrary, try 
to keep his hens in the best possible condition, so 
that the eggs will have a high percentage of fertility 
and produce robust youngsters. 

Matings should be made soon after the first of 
January and only a few hens kept with each male. 
While the utility poultryman may keep his fowls in 
a single large flock, the fancier will need several 
pens, so that it will be easy to keep his matings 
separate. It would be a calamity if occupants of 
the different pens should become mixed, even for a 
day. 

After the breeder acquires something of a repu- 
tation, he finds it an easy matter to sell his eggs 
for hatching purposes and at a much higher price 
than they would bring in the market. Hundreds 
of amateurs with no more than a local reputation 
have no difficulty in disposing of a considerable 
number at a dollar for thirteen. Indeed, if a man 
has a flock of particularly good looking hens of an 
attractive breed, he usually finds a local demand for 
hatching eggs, even though he does not pretend to 
be a fancier. Indeed, one dollar a sitting is com- 
monly paid for eggs from a strain bred solely for 



no THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

high Qgg production. A small advertisement in one 
of the papers often helps to bring in a few dollars 
for eggs and if the amateur starts with a breed not 
common in his locality, he will be sure to be asked 
for setting eggs. 

The chickens raised must be carefully culled and 
on this point the amateur will need advice the first 
season. Not more than fifty per cent, can rea- 
sonably be expected to prove of value as fanc}- 
stock. 

To be a fancier does not necessarily mean to keep 
what are commonly spoken of as the fancy breeds. 
Indeed, some of the best-known fanciers specialize in 
Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds and Leghorns. 
The Barred Plymouth Rock breed, by the way, is 
one of the most difficult in which to secure first- 
class specimens. 

There are many amateurs, however, who are not 
fanciers, strictly speaking, but who keep the more 
ornamental breeds because their beauty of plumage, 
stylish carriage or pert manners appeal to them. 
The Houdan and Polish fowls, for example, with 
their curious topknots, have a host of admirers, who 
try to keep their pens filled with high-grade birds 
just because they enjoy looking at them and being 



FANCY POULTRY AS A PASTIME in 

among them. The Langshans, Hamburgs, Andalu- 
sians, White Faced Black Spanish and Silver Wyan- 
dottes are exceedingly ornamental and are prized 
for that reason. 

The Bantams, too, are highly popular among ama- 
teurs who breed poultry simply as a recreation. 
Physicians seem to have a special fondness for these 
dainty little fowls and some of them are well-known 
exhibitors. It is not an easy matter to breed show 
Bantams, but there is no little fascination in en- 
deavoring to produce prize specimens. 

Fowls which are to be exhibited require special 
training, so that they will submit to the handling of 
the judge and pose properly for inspection. This 
means that they must be worked with from chicken- 
hood and made accustomed to being lifted and car- 
ried about. Patience is required to get them to 
stand motionless sufficiently long to have their pic- 
tures taken while they " look pleasant." Gently 
stroking the throat seems to have a soothing effect 
when the birds are being taught to pose. 

White birds which are to be shown need wash- 
ing before being shipped to the show room. The 
usual method is to prepare three tubs of water, one 
cold, one warm and one lukewarm, a little bluing 



112 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

being added to the cold water. A warm room is 
needed, for poultry shows come in cold weather ; in 
practice, the kitchen is commonly made use of. The 
bird is first scrubbed with warm w^ater, using a brush 
and always rubbing downward. Soap should be 
used freely, but thoroughly rinsed off in the second 
tub, the victim being soused in the cooler water. 
Then a dipping or two in the bluing water will give 
the finishing touch to the bath. Next in order is a 
thorough drying with sponge and towel, after which 
the bird is placed in a coop, the bottom of which is 
covered thickly with sawdust, and the coop given a 
location near the fire, but not close enough to cause 
the feathers to crinkle from the heat. 

While fowls with dark plumage are not often 
washed, all need a certain amount of attention and 
the man who sends his birds to the show in the best 
of condition has an advantage over his more slovenly 
competitor. Whatever the breed, the legs, comb, 
wattles and lobes should be carefully cleansed with 
warm water, using soap and a soft sponge. 

It will be realized from what has been written, 
that the breeding of fancy poultry is not an under- 
taking to be entered upon lightly if one is really 
ambitious for success in the show room. And yet 



FANCY POULTRY AS A PASTIME 113 

beginners sometimes have most unexpected success. 
Time and again a new exhibitor has come before 
the judges and carried away some of the most im- 
portant prizes. And whether one wins or loses, the 
fascination of breeding thoroughbred poultry does 
not soon pall. 



Chapter X 
DUCKS, GEESE AND GUINEA FOWL 

DUCKS, geese and guinea fowls are not for 
the amateur who has only a very small lot. 
The man or woman, however, who has 
enough land so that the stock need not be confined 
too closely will find these birds profitable, as well as 
providing meat for the table at low cost. One va- 
riety of duck, the Indian Runner, may even be de- 
pended upon for eggs, for it is remarkably prolific, 
laying from 140 to 200 eggs a year. 

It is only of late years that the Indian Runner 
duck has become popular. Now, birds of this 
breed are being raised in constantly increasing num- 
bers. Many women are taking up the Runners, 
seeming to consider that they are somewhat easier 
to care for than hens. Perhaps this is a fact, for 
they are hardy and strong, grow quickly and never 
need to be coddled. It is not at all improbable that 
some amateurs will substitute them for the more 
common kinds of poultry in the years to come, for 

114 



DUCKS, GEESE AND GUINEAS 115 

the eggs are large and of good flavor. Some 
strains lay white and other strains greenish-tinged 
eggs. Of course the pure white eggs are to be pre- 
ferred, so that when buying stock, one should be 
careful to learn the color of the eggs produced. 
Day-old ducklings may be purchased for about 25 
cents each and are easily reared with a hen. 

There are three varieties of Indian Runners — 
penciled, fawn and white and pure white. The 
penciled Runners represent the English type, but 
the American standard recognizes, as yet, only the 
fawn and white variety. Some breeders insist that 
the penciled birds are more certain to lay white eggs 
than the American type, and are more prolific, but 
the latter are more commonly seen. Doubtless all 
three varieties will be standardized eventually. 
The whites are rather scarce at present and bring 
higher prices than the other kinds. 

Given proper care, Indian Runner ducks are easy 
to raise and require no water to swim in, although 
they demand a surprisingly large amount to drink 
and dabble in. It is necessary that they have water 
always before them and in a receptacle deep enough 
so that they can dip their beaks into the water to 
the nostril openings, for these openings often be- 



ii6 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

come clogged with soft food or mud and the birds 
are in danger of smothering unless water is at hand. 
The ducks should be kept in a yard by themselves 
and in clean, dry quarters free from draughts. If 
allowed to run with the other poultry they will gob- 
ble up more than their share of the food and make 
nuisances of themselves in other ways. The duck- 
lings must not be allowed out in a shower nor per- 
mitted to swim even in a mud puddle until they are 
feathered out — and they acquire feathers much 
more slowly than chickens. 

Low, rough shelters are sufficient for the ducks. 
A dry goods box will answer for a small flock and 
one side may be left open or covered with muslin 
tacked to a light frame. There should be a liberal 
supply of sawdust, shavings or straw on the floor 
for a litter, so that the floor will be dry, and this 
litter will need frequent renewing, for the webbed 
feet of the ducks carry much water and mud. The 
ducks should be confined until the middle of the 
forenoon in the laying season, for they almost in- 
variably lay their eggs in the morning, often drop- 
ping them on the litter wherever they happen to be, 
but sometimes fashioning temporary nests. 

Indian Runner ducks eat about as much as hens. 




Toulouse geese are iiuisy, but are pruhtable if they have 
grass land to run on 



DUCKS, GEESE AND GUINEAS 117 

The ducklings, however, are very greedy, but their 
rapid growth may be considered sufficient justifica- 
tion for their astonishing appetites. No food 
should be given for the first 36 hours, although 
water should be provided and in a dish which the 
youngsters cannot climb into. The activity of a 
day-old duckling is surprising to people who are ac- 
customed only to chickens. 

Bread soaked in milk or \vater and sprinkled with 
coarse sand or chick grit may be fed four times a 
day for three or four days and then a soft mash 
gradually substituted. A good mash is made of 
four parts bran, one part ground oats, one part corn 
meal, two parts of green stuff and one part of 
beef scraps. A little chick grit and charcoal may 
be added. Some breeders put the grit in the water 
dish, as the ducklings will usually pick it out. The 
green stuff may be dandelions, lettuce, clover or 
alfalfa. The mash should be crumbly and not wet. 
It is well not to include the beef scraps until the 
ducklings are a week old and to begin with some- 
what less than one full part. 

When the ducklings are eight weeks old, cracked 
corn and wheat may be fed at night. Whole corn 
may be substituted when they grow old enough to 



ii8 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

eat it easily. When matured, a laying ration made 
as follows may be fed : Two parts bran, one part 
ground oats, one part corn meal, one part of beef 
scraps, one part of alfalfa. Waste vegetables may 
be added and corn and wheat fed at night, the 
mash being given in the morning and at noon. Grit 
and oyster shells should be kept where the birds can 
have free access to them. 

This is the conventional way of feeding- ducks 
and ducklings and serves to keep them in prime con- 
dition. Yet simpler methods will answer. Being 
pressed for time, the writer tried feeding rolled oats 
dry at frequent intervals and found that the duck- 
lings both relished and thrived on them. He even 
went so far on many occasions as to sprinkle rolled 
oats all about the grass run where the ducklings 
were confined and to leave them from early morn- 
ing until late in the afternoon, a large covered 
drinking fountain supplying the water. No bad ef- 
fects followed, either. Coddling is no more neces- 
sary than for chickens. And yet this hit and miss 
method of feeding is not recommended, if more than 
a very few birds are being raised. 

A yard made of single boards will confine the 
ducklings at first, and the location should be shifted 



DUCKS, GEESE AND GUINEAS 119 

several times a week. If the ducklings are being 
cared for by a hen, she may be allowed to jump out 
and roam around. The youngsters have no use for 
her, anyway, except as a source of heat, and pay no 
attention when she gets excited over a bug or worm 
and tries to call them to the feast. The hen is 
likely to get disgusted with her charges rather early, 
but that does not matter, for they become large 
enough in a few weeks to dispense with her services. 
Even after the ducks are full grown a low fence 
will confine them and they give much less trouble 
than hens. They may be driven like sheep from 
place to place, as the flock always keep together, 
and suffer little from vermin. 

If given a wide range, the Indian Runners will 
pick up a large percentage of their rations, for they 
are excellent foragers. When confined, it is most 
important that they have green food in abundance. 
Grass clippings and the refuse from the garden 
should go into their pen and it is well to grow let- 
tuce, cress or other vegetables for them. 

The birds of this breed do not dress as heavy or 
as attractively as Pekin ducks, which are the table 
ducks par excellence, but the meat is fine-grained 
and unsurpassed in flavor. The Runners make ex- 



120 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

cellent broilers. This particular breed has been 
discussed at length because it is less well known than 
the Pekin and because it has qualities which com- 
mend it especially, the writer believes, to the ama- 
teur. Most beginners, at least, do not care to raise 
poultry purely for the table. The suggestion of 
taking life is made too emphatic. The Indian Run- 
ner may be raised mainly for the eggs produced, 
with the meat supply as a supplementary item. 

It is true that breeders of Pekin ducks often are 
able to sell the young birds alive, although at a de- 
creased profit. There is no question that Pekins 
are money-makers ; perhaps they are the most 
famous of market fowl, for they are distinctly a 
meat breed. Being pure white, they dress to good 
advantage and the feathers are worth forty cents 
or more a pound. If properly grown, these ducks 
are ready for market at ten weeks or a little more, 
when they weigh five or six pounds. 

Pekin ducks and ducklings may be given the 
rations and general care described for Indian Run- 
ners, except that a larger percentage of corn meal 
is needed when the ducks are being fattened for 
the table. The ducklings are timid and easily 
stampeded, sometimes piling up in a corner when 



DUCKS, GEESE AND GUINEAS 121 

startled, with serious results to the birds at the bot- 
tom of the pile. Some breeders keep a lantern 
burning in the house at night, as a partial protection 
against this sort of thing. 

The one other kind of duck which the amateur is 
likely to keep is the Rouen, which is a particularly 
good table fowl, but not so popular as the Pekin be- 
cause of its dark-colored feathers and slower 
growth. Rouens are hardy, gentle and good layers. 
They are not so easily stampeded as the Pekins and 
may be kept in larger flocks. The amateur with a 
small farm will find a few of them an excellent in- 
vestment, for they will shift for themselves to a 
large extent, requiring but little care. 

When ducks of any breed are yarded, the ques- 
tion of sanitation becomes an important and some- 
times a vexing one. Too large a number should be 
avoided so that the birds may be shifted from one 
yard to another occasionally, the yard vacated being 
spaded or plowed and sowed to a thick-growing 
crop like rye. Shade must also be provided if there 
is no natural shelter, and may take the form of 
strips of burlap or old grain sacks fastened to a 
light frame. It should not be dense. 

Only amateurs living in the country should try 



122 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

raising geese, for they require more room than 
ducks and chafe at confinement. Geese are grazing 
creatures like cattle and need pasture. Meadows 
and marshes are ideal for them, if they also have 
access to land which is high and dry. They are 
very easy to raise, cost almost nothing to keep and 
bring a satisfactory price when marketed. Many 
people miss an excellent opportunity to add to their 
incomes by not keeping a few geese. 

Geese live from twenty to fifty years if given the 
opportunity. Indeed, instances of geese living to 
be a hundred are not rare. Ganders, however, are 
likely to become vicious after they reach the age of 
six years and usually are disposed of when com- 
paratively young, for they have powerful wings and 
are able to seriously injure women and children. 
It is not a sign of cowardice to run from an enraged 
gander. 

Often three settings may be secured if the eggs 
are removed from the nest. Hens may be allowed 
to hatch the first lots, the eggs laid last being given 
the goose to incubate. Goose eggs require from 28 
to 31 days to hatch, those under geese often hatch- 
ing quicker than those under hens. As geese do not 
begin laying until late Winter or early Spring, the 



DUCKS, GEESE AND GUINEAS 123 

goslings usually may be put on grass at once, being 
given a light mash of bran and corn meal twice a 
day the first week. If they are to be fattened for 
the early summer market, the mash should be con- 
tinued, but otherwise the youngsters will get along 
very well on grass alone, plus what bugs and insects 
they are able to secure, although an occasional mash 
with the addition of cooked vegetables and some 
beef scraps will help promote growth, as well as 
teaching the birds to come home from their roaming 
every night. 

Simple sheds to protect them from the biting 
winds and driving rains are all that geese need. 
They do not feel the cold. Indeed, a goose will 
settle down in a blizzard and appear comfortable 
enough, changing her position only to prevent being 
buried under the snow. 

The Toulouse and Embden geese are the breeds 
commonly kept. Both are large, massive and at- 
tractive. They are much alike in appearance except 
that the Embdens are pure white, while the Tou- 
louse geese have a large proportion of gray feathers. 
The Toulouse geese are the more prolific, but the 
Embdens make the better mothers. Probably the 
former are to be preferred if yarding is necessary, 



124 THE HOA/[E POULTRY BOOK 

as they endure confinement with some degree of 
patience. 

Gray African geese are good layers and excellent 
for the table, as the meat is fine-grained. They can 
be made to weigh eight pounds in ten weeks, so that 
they rival the Pekin duck. Many breeders find 
them profitable. Geese have strong lungs and are 
prone to exercise them when startled or when stran- 
gers approach. Sometimes this is an advantage; 
every schoolboy knows that a flock of geese once 
saved Rome. 

When it comes to noise, however, the guinea 
fowl claims attention. Its raucous cry may be 
heard a long distance and often unpleasantly early 
in the morning. But then, even the gorgeous pea- 
cock ofl'ends in this way. It often happens, too, 
that the cry of the guinea fowl is not to be deplored, 
for it is highly effective in keeping away hawks and 
may be depended upon to give the alarm if intruders 
attempt to enter the poultry house at night. 
Guineas are being grown in increasing numbers be- 
cause of the demand created by high-class hotels, 
clubs and restaurants. Game has become scarce 
and guinea chickens are the best substitute which 
has been discovered. Formerly they masqueraded 



DUCKS, GEESE AND GUINEAS 125 

under some other name, but now they are often 
served frankly as guinea chickens, for their merits 
have been recognized. 

The meat of old guineas is tough, but that of 
birds a few months old is tender and delicious to a 
degree few people realize. These birds are well 
worth growing for the family table, although they 
may be made decidedly profitable. People who 
have only a little land can purchase eggs, set them 
under a hen or two and dress the young birds as 
they are wanted. By this plan they may be had 
for the table without the necessity of wintering 
breeding stock. Mature guineas rebel at being con- 
fined, although it is quite possible to keep a few in a 
comparatively small yard. However, they do but 
little damage when allowed their freedom, for they 
do not scratch up the garden like ordinary hens, but 
walk sedately up and down the rows of vegetables, 
stopping at frequent intervals to gobble down a 
bug. 

Guinea hens like to make their nests in secret 
places, and if they are yarded, it is well to provide 
piles of brush for their use. When at liberty, the 
location of the nest often may be discovered by 
watching the male, who stands guard close by dur- 



126 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

ing the period of incubation. If left to her own 
devices, the hen will lay many more eggs than she 
can cover, so that it is customary to remove them. 
This proceeding is one which demands caution, for 
the guinea hen is a wise and suspicious bird. Peo- 
ple say she can count to five. Anyway, that num- 
ber of eggs should always be left in the nest and 
those which are removed, while the hen seeks pro- 
vender, must be lifted out with a wooden spoon. 
The amateur may laugh at this statement, and call 
it an old wife's tale. He will learn better when he 
sees nest after nest abandoned. 

The eggs removed should be given to hens, al- 
though the latter might refuse to take them if they 
realized the task confronting them. Guinea chicks 
are strange little creatures. They fairly pop out of 
their shells when the day of hatching comes, and as 
soon as they are dried off, they are ready to start 
out to see the world. Unless boards or netting is 
placed around the nest, there is danger that the ven- 
turesome young guineas will wander away and be- 
come lost. Although they grow rapidly and soon 
become quite capable of caring for themselves, 
they refuse to be wxaned and continue to tag after 
the hen which has mothered them until they 



DUCKS, GEESE AND GUINEAS 127 

are matured, much to the ill-concealed disgust of 
biddy. 

Guinea fowls, if there are more than two or three, 
should not be yarded with the other poultry, for 
they are confirmed mischief makers and wall make 
life a burden for the common hens, chasing them 
from one end of the yard to the other and driving 
them away from their meals. As a matter of fact, 
it is not easy to keep them yarded at all, unless their 
wings are clipped or the yards covered, for they have 
well-developed flying powers. 

Amateurs usually experience no little difficulty in 
distinguishing the sexes. The males commonly are 
larger than the females, possess larger w^attles and 
have some white on their breasts. Then, too, they 
are not as talkative as their mates and have a shorter 
note than the " buck-wheat " call of the hen. A 
pen of guineas usually consists of one male and from 
six to ten females. The young birds are often sold 
by the pair and are not dressed. Indeed, the ama- 
teur should have no difficulty in disposing of a few 
birds alive, and so avoid the unpleasant task of kill- 
ing them. Where there is sufficient land available, 
it is worth while experimenting with a pen of 
guinea fowls. 



Chapter XI 
SOME OPEN SECRETS 

SUCCESSFUL poultry keeping is not a ques- 
tion of secret methods. If it were, the few 
who had been initiated into the mysteries of 
the craft would reap the harvest of eggs, and the 
rest of us would fare but poorly. There are certain 
" short cuts," to be sure, which have been widely 
advertised and some of which have merit. Very 
few of them, however, are not known in a general 
way to experienced poultry keepers all over the 
country. 

Take a much-exploited method of picking out the 
laying hens, which is dependable to a limited extent. 
The pelvic bones, which must spread to admit the 
passage of an egg that is being laid, are examined 
to determine their relative location. If three fingers 
can be placed between these bones, the hen is sup- 
posed to be laying prolifically. If room is found for 
two fingers, she is laying fairly well. If however, 

128 



SOME OPEN SECRETS 129 

there is barely space for a single finger, few eggs 
are being produced. My personal faith in this test 
is not great. 

The limitation of the method lies in the fact that 
it shows only what the hen is doing in the egg- 
laying line at that particular time. At the sea- 
son when eggs are coming abundantly, all the hens 
of the same age and brought up together should 
be laying and one may feel safe in disposing of 
such as are derelict. This test may be used when 
one is reducing his stock in the late Spring, and the 
hens apparently not laying at that time selected for 
market. It is a decided saving to get rid of such 
hens as are not laying in June and July; and of 
course, it is foolish to keep drones at any season. 
The condition of the comb and general appearance 
of a hen are indications to practical poultry keepers 
as to whether a hen is laying or not. 

Amateurs often find it wise to " put down " eggs 
in the Spring, when they are cheap, for use the fol- 
lowing Winter. There are several ways by which 
eggs may be preserved, but the best one is so simple 
that there is no reason why it should not be gen- 
erally used. Silicate of soda, or water glass, may 
be purchased at any drug store and is diluted with 



I30 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

ten times its bulk of water. It is then poured into 
a crock and the eggs completely submerged. H 
kept in a cool place, the eggs will remain in good 
condition for months. It is necessary, of course, 
that they be fresh at the beginning, and it is better 
to use eggs from hens with which no male birds are 
running. These eggs should not be sold, however, 
for the shells break easily when placed in hot water 
and the eggs often pop when boiled. And apart 
from that fact, the wise amateur makes it a point 
never to sell eggs which he is not sure are less than 
two weeks old, even to his unsuspecting relatives. 

The easiest way to keep track of chicks in order 
to tell at a glance from which pen they came is to 
punch the webs of the feet with punches made for 
this purpose and costing twenty-five cents. Al- 
though some breeders wait until the chicks are a 
month old, it is safer to do the work before the end 
of a week, for then there is little bleeding and con- 
sequently less danger that the chicks will acquire the 
reprehensible habit of picking each other's feet, as 
happens when they get a taste of blood. In some 
instances the feet of chickens have been picked al- 
most to pieces. 

The punching should be done c|uickly and the hole 



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r^- ■ . r 


Br^ 




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^^^^^K^^ « 


v^ 


^^i 


^K- 







- be 

bfl 




SOME OPEN SECRETS 131 

made well up in the web, but not far enough to in- 
jure the bones. By making the holes between dif- 
ferent toes and punching both feet it is possible to 
make a large number of combinations. It follows, 
of course, that a record of these marks must be kept, 
or the work will go for nothing. Leg bands are 
often used for marking poultry; they are adjustable 
to legs of varying sizes and cost but fifteen cents a 
dozen or seventy-five cents for a hundred. Each 
band is numbered and a record of the numbers must 
be kept. 

When a broody hen deserts her nest, as a broody 
hen sometimes will, the amateur should not become 
needlessly alarmed. If the weather is not exceed- 
ingly cold or the hen off for several hours before her 
defection is discovered, the chances are that the 
eggs will hatch, although the chicks may be a day or 
two later in coming out. There usually is even 
time to go to a neighbor's home to borrow a sit- 
ting hen if there is not an extra one at hand. The 
new hen's head should be covered when she is be- 
ing moved to meet such an emergency and the nest 
should be made dark when she is put on the 
eggs. 

If a hen deserts a nest, her action is likely to be 



132 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

inspired by the presence of lice in greater numbers 
than she can endure. There is no reason why a 
hen should not hatch two broods of chicks in suc- 
cession, if she is given good care. The first chicks 
may be removed to a brooder or given to another 
hen with only a few to look after. 

Capons may be used to brood young chicks and 
will care for them with the utmost patience and 
solicitude. They are better for chicks several weeks 
old than for very young ones, for they are so heavy 
and clumsy that they frequently crush their charges 
unless the latter are active enough to get out of the 
way, and they are so stupid that they will not think 
in time to lift their feet in spite of the victim's fran- 
tic appeals. Apart from this failing, they are very 
satisfactory guardians of growing chicks. Some 
amateurs find it an advantage to have their cock- 
erels caponized, the cost being five to ten cents 
for each bird. The capons grow very large and 
make surpassing table fowl, while they may be kept 
in large numbers in small yards without any sign 
of quarreling among them. The plan is a good 
one when it is desired to keep a considerable num- 
ber of cockerels on hand to be served on the home 
table from time to time. 



SOME OPEN SECRETS 133 

When chickens are killed and dressed for home 
consumption, the ax is usually the weapon relied 
upon, although professional pickers use a knife with 
which they pierce the brain through the mouth. The 
amateur's job, always an unpleasant one, is sim- 
plified by using a block into one end of which a 
spike has been driven. Then a stout bit of cord 
may be made into a loop passed around the chick- 
en's head and slipped over the spike. Holding the 
legs of the bird in his left hand, the operator is 
able to use his ax in his right hand with assurance 
that the first blow will be the only blow needed, for 
the chicken will not be able to dodge. 

It is as easy to pick a chicken as soon as it has 
been killed as to let it become cool and then scald 
it, for the feathers come off quickly while the flesh 
is warm. The breast and neck should be picked 
first, as there is most danger of tearing the skin 
there. A strawberry huller such as is found in 
most kitchens is highly useful in removing the pin 
feathers. As soon as the chicken has been freed 
of its feathers, the carcass should be plunged into 
cold water and allowed to remain until thoroughly 
chilled. The experts say that the bird should not 
be drawn until it is to be made ready for cooking, 



134 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

as it keeps better than when the intestines are re- 
moved. 

If the amateur prefers to scald his chickens before 
picking them, the carcass should be immersed in 
water just below the boiling point, and the water 
allowed to penetrate the feathers to the skin. As 
soon as the feathers have been removed, the bird 
should be thrown into very hot or even boiling water 
and quickly withdrawn and plunged into ice water, 
where it may be left several hours. This practice 
will give the carcass a plump and attractive appear- 
ance. Ducks must be left in the hot water con- 
siderable longer than chickens in order to have the 
water penetrate the feathers, but ducks may be 
picked dry as readily as other poultry. A good plan 
is to pick the longer feathers of ducks dry and to 
then scald ofY the others. 

Nest eggs are of value in teaching the pullets to 
lay in the nests and to prevent several hens piling 
Into one nest. A nest egg is easily made by pierc- 
ing the end of an ordinary egg and blowing the 
contents out, afterward filling the egg with plaster 
paris, warmed so that it can be used readily. When 
the plaster hardens, a strong, durable nest egg is the 
result. 



SOME OPEN SECRETS 135 

When fanciers sell eggs for table use after the 
breeding season is over, they sometimes plunge them 
into boiling water, smear them with grease or prick 
a tiny hole in one end so as to prevent the buyers 
taking advantage of the low price to set the eggs. 
All these methods damage the product and the seller's 
reputation. The only safe way to make sure of the 
infertility of the eggs sold is to remove the male 
from the pen in which the hens are confined. In- 
fertile eggs are always best for the table — some 
people who sell eggs to a high-class clientelle ad- 
vertise the fact that they market infertile eggs only. 

If milk is fed to chickens, it should always be 
sweet or always sour. It is the alternating of sweet 
and sour milk which causes trouble. Milk is a 
splendid food for growing stock and may be used 
to advantage when clabbered. 

In order to get a preponderance of pullets, a cock 
considerable older than the hens should be used 
and the breeding pen consist of twenty or more 
birds. Probably there will be some decrease in fer- 
tility, but the object aimed at will be gained in most 
instances. The amateur hatching his chicks late in 
the Spring is more likely to get a large number of 
pullets than the man who hatches extra early chicks. 



136 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Although oats are the grain commonly sprouted 
for green food, barley, wheat or rye may be used 
just as well. The grain should be covered with 
warm water and soaked over night. In the morn- 
ing it may be spread in shallow boxes having drain- 
age holes in the bottom and sprinkled every day with 
a watering can, using hot water. When the sprouts 
are an inch or two long they are just right for 
chickens, but they may be allowed to grow to a 
length of five or six inches for mature fowls. If 
the grain is turned or stirred every day, the shoots 
will not grow as thick as otherwise. This is the 
much advertised secret of food at fifteen cents a 
bushel. 

If the chicks must be raised in the same runs year 
after year, it is a great advantage to cover the sur- 
face with coal ashes, which should be replaced each 
season. The ashes keep the soil from becoming 
foul, tend to keep the ground dry and are relished 
by the chicks, which consume considerable of 
them. 

When laying hens or pullets m.ust be moved, they 
should be kept rather hungry for several days and 
fed in a fresh, deep litter. Being busy hunting 
food, they will be less excited or disturbed over 



SOME OPEN SECRETS 137 

the change in their surroundings, and the yield of 
eggs will not fall off materially. 

It is an economical practice to feed dried grass 
clippings in a little rack. An excellent plan is to 
spread the clippings three inches deep on a section 
of two-inch poultry wire four feet long and then 
roll the wire very tightly. The roll should be hung 
within easy reach of the fowls. 



Chapter XII 
INSECT PESTS AND OTHER TROUBLES 

IT is to be regretted that the little word lice must 
be writ so large in a poultry keeper's hand book 
as is the case. Somebody has said that fleas 
should be welcomed by a dog because they help him 
to forget that he is a dog. Perhaps this is true of 
lice in their relation to the hen; at any rate, they 
encourage activity on the part of the poultryman, 
who is obliged for his own comfort to keep his 
poultry house comparatively free of this pest. Lice 
spell failure for the lazy amateur, as well as for 
the professional. The only way to be free of them 
is to keep everlastingly spraying and dusting — and 
above all, to keep the premises clean. 

Three kinds of lice are found in practically every 
poultry house, in spite of what some indignant ama- 
teurs may say. First, there is the common gray 
body louse, which feeds at the roots of the feathers 
and causes the fowls untold irritation. Then there 
is the head louse, a large and blood-thirsty insect 

138 



INSECTS AND OTHER TROUBLES 139 

which causes great mortaHty among young chicks, 
although it is also found and is propagated on mature 
birds. Finally, there is the red mite, which preys 
on the poultry at night and seeks shelter during the 
day in crevices and corners and under the roosting 
perch. Turn over these perches in many hen houses, 
and the under side will be found fairly red with 
tiny mites. Like the head louse, they suck the blood 
of the hens and sap their vitality as well as causing 
extreme discomfort. 

The fecundity of hen lice is amazing. Start with 
one female under favorable conditions and in two 
months her progeny will number 125,000. Is it any 
wonder that constant activity on the part of the at- 
tendant is necessary? 

And yet the amateur need not be discouraged. 
It is not impossible to keep the pests in subjection. 
Filth is most favorable to the increase of vermin, 
and so the house must be kept reasonably clean. 
Plenty of opportunity to dust themselves will be 
all the hens ask, as a rule, in order to keep them- 
selves fairly free of lice on their bodies in the day 
time. The fowls are completely at the mercy of 
the red mites, however, and the poultry keeper must 
take a hand in their extermination by making fre- 



140 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

quent use of kerosene or one of the prepared liquid 
lice paints. He should thoroughly cover the walls, 
the perches and the nests once a month the year 
around and twice a month in Summer. A spray 
pump will help to minimize the work as well as to 
economize on material and to reach every part of 
the house. If detachable fixtures are used, they 
may be removed m order to facilitate the work as 
well as to make it more thorough. Special atten- 
tion should be given the roost and the boards or 
blocks which support it at the ends. It is best to 
apply the kerosene or other liquid in the morning 
on a bright day, so that it will dry and evaporate 
before the fowls go to roost. 

Whitewashing the interior of the house is an ex- 
cellent plan, especially if a little carbolic acid be 
added to the whitewash. 

If a poultry house is found to be badly infested, 
it is well to give it a thorough spraying with kero- 
sene or a liquid lice killer and then to dust the hens 
after they have gone to roost with Persian insect 
powder (Dalmatian powder) or with a prepared 
lice powder. If the Persian insect powder is used, 
care should be taken to have it fresh. A box with 
a few holes punched in the bottom may be used as a 



INSECTS AND OTHER TROUBLES 141 

sifter. A ten-cent box with a sifter top may be 
bought at many drug stores. The hen should be 
grasped by the legs and held head downward while 
the powder is dusted into the fluff around the vent 
and under the wings, favorite haunts of the lice. 
The powder should be well worked into the fluff 
and the birds put back on the roosts. It is well to 
do this work by lantern light, so that the fowls will 
" stay put." Special attention should be given the 
roosters, as they are not likely to dust themselves as 
thoroughly as the hens. 

A large proportion of the chicks which perish 
every season succumb to the ravages of lice. It 
often is difficult to make the amateur realize this 
fact, but it is a fact, nevertheless. When the chicks 
hatch, the head lice at once leave the mother hen 
for them, speedily exhausting their vitality. The 
body lice, too, accumulate rapidly. For the latter, 
powder dusted on the chicks and under the wings 
of the hen, where the chicks hover, will sufiice. 
This powder will not exterminate the head lice, how- 
ever; a very little lard or proprietary ointment 
rubbed on the head of each chick is necessary in order 
to secure freedom from these pests. Several ap- 
plications of these insecticides while the chicks are 



142 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

young will be needed. In fact, there is no likelihood 
that this work of warring on lice will be overdone 
at any time. 

After lice, the cause of the greatest loss to poul- 
try keepers is tainted ground. It is not necessary 
to enumerate the troubles which come from this 
source. Indeed, it is not worth while to suggest 
remedies to use after they come. The one impor- 
tant point to make is that new ground must be 
sought at frequent intervals or the old ground kept 
sweet by plowing, spading, the use of lime or ashes 
and the growing of green crops. Air-slacked lime 
is valuable both outside the house and in. 

There are a number of common troubles which 
may come up to puzzle the amateur. One of them 
is frosted combs. There is no remedy after the 
comb becomes black, but while the comb is still white 
with frost it may be held in cold water until the 
frost has been taken out and then rubbed with car- 
bolated vaseline, drawing the fingers rapidly from 
the head to the tips of the comb to promote the cir- 
culation of blood. 

Shelless eggs are the result of too hard forcing for 
eggs and the use of condiments, among other things. 
The absence of shell forming material like oyster 



INSECTS AND OTHER TROUBLES 143 

shells is an obvious cause. If green food is lacking 
that may have a tendency to cause this trouble. 
There seem to be few shelless eggs when a hopper 
of bran and beef scraps is kept in the pen. Sudden 
fright may cause the dropping of an egg before the 
shell has formed. 

Egg eating is a bad habit and often difficult to 
eradicate, for a whole flock may contract it from a 
single hen. The original cause usually lies in a lack 
of shell-making material or of meat. If a hen with 
this habit is discovered, she should by all means 
be removed from the pen. Sometimes a number of 
nest eggs scattered about the floor will put a stop to 
the practice, the hens soon becoming tired of testing 
their beaks on the hard surfaces. Another remedy 
may give better results, although calling for a little 
more work. The natural contents of several eggs 
may be removed and the shells filled with a mixture 
of soft soap and red pepper, the openings being 
closed with bits of court plaster. After breaking a 
few eggs of this sort and sampling the contents, the 
hens are likely to be sickened of this habit. Keep- 
ing the nests dark is also advisable. 

Feather eating is another bad habit, and may arise 
either from a craving for more animal food or from 



144 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

lack of exercise. The best remedy is to give the 
fowls wider range or to use a deep litter in the house 
and force them to scratch persistently for all the 
grain they get. Busy hens rarely have time to in- 
dulge in these evil practices. Of course, a generous 
supply of beef scraps should be given, if the trouble 
may be traced to a lack of sufficient meat in their 
rations. 

Scaly legs are caused by a parasite and the remedy 
is three tablespoonfuls of lard, two of kerosene oil 
and one of glycerine, which should be mixed warm 
and two drops of carbolic acid added. After wash- 
ing and drying the legs of the birds, this mixture 
should be applied generously and when warm. Two 
applications a week for a month will usually prove 
sufficient. 

Sick birds are not worth bothering with, as a rule. 
The amateur who keeps his flock well housed, well 
fed and in a sanitary condition will have little trouble 
with disease, anyway, if cautious about introducing 
strange birds. 



Chapter XIII 
THE YEAR'S WORK, MONTH BY MONTH 

JANUARY 

THE hen's working day is short. Be sure 
that she is kept busy every minute. 
Give the evening meal at least an hour 
before the hens go to roost. Whole corn is the best 
evening ration at this season. If wet mash is used, 
feed it early and give a feeding of corn an hour 
later. 

Gather the eggs several times a day ; otherwise 
they may freeze. 

If the fowls are closely confined, it is well to shovel 
some of the snow away from the door so that they 
can get out on the ground a few hours on bright 
days. 

Don't make the mistake of shutting the house up 
tightly, even at night. Fresh air in abundance is the 
one thing needful. 

The beginner starting this month can order breed- 

145 



146 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

ing pens, say from six to ten females and one cock 
bird. It pays to buy high-grade stock to breed from. 

FEBRUARY 

Orders for eggs to hatch should be put in early, 
even though delivery is not desired until March or 
April. 

Incubators should be bought this month, although 
the first of March is early enough for the amateur 
to start them, unless eggs from heavy breeds like the 
Cochins and Langshans are to be set. It pays to 
make a careful study of the incubator question before 
making a purchase and it does not pay to buy a cheap 
machine. 

Eggs to be used for hatching should be gathered 
several times a day and kept at a temperature of be- 
tween forty and sixty. Eggs over two weeks old 
should not be used. 

If one is breeding fancy poultry, the first of this 
month is none too early to make up breeding pens. 

If the dry mash is not being eaten freely, yet is 
sweet and inviting, cut down on the supply of whole 
or cracked grains. 

If there is glass in the house, wash it. If cur- 



THE YEAR'S WORK '147 

tains are used, brush them thoroughly several times 
a week. 

Dampness and draughts are to be watched for. 
Dry, cold air is much less to be feared. 

Keep a deep litter on the floor, but fresh enough 
so that the grain will disappear from sight. Old 
litter becomes packed down hard. 

MARCH 

This is the hatching month for the amateur. Set 
the eggs for breeds like the Rocks, Wyandottes, Or- 
pingtons and Rhode Islands Reds the first of the 
month. Several weeks later will answer for the 
smaller breeds like the Leghorns and Anconas. 

When using hens, set several at one time, so that 
the chicks will come off together, making it pos- 
sible to double them up and so release some of the 
hens. 

Even when an incubator is used, it is a good 
plan to set several hens at the same time. Then 
the eggs under the hens which test fertile may be 
used to replace those tested out of the machine. 
This is the way to make the most of a small in- 
cubator. 



148 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Be sure that the hen is dusted with Hce powder 
several times while she is sitting, the last time just 
before the chicks hatch. 

Spade up the poultry yard as soon as the ground 
can be worked. If it has been neglected, scrape 
up and remove an inch or more of the surface dirt, 
which is sure to be very foul. 

The strongest chicks will come from hens which 
have not been forced hard for winter eggs. Se- 
lecting hatching eggs from those laid by overworked 
pullets is not a wise plan. 

Duck eggs usually run fertile this month and 
this is early enough for the amateur to set them, 
especially those laid by Indian Runners. 

Study the brooder catalogues. Outdoor brooders 
will be satisfactory for chicks hatched as late as 
March. Small colony houses with a good hover 
set in each give good results. After the need for 
heat has passed, the hover may be removed and 
the chicks allowed to use the house for a coop. 

APRIL 

Chicks of the smaller breeds hatched this month 
will mature in time to begin laying in the Fall. 



THE YEAR'S WORK 149 

The brooder must not be overcrowded and re- 
quires close watching. The actions of the chicks 
are the best indications as to temperature. 

Sunlight and fresh air are most important if a 
large percentage of chicks is to be raised. Look 
to the ventilation. Often muslin can be substituted 
for glass in at least a part of the window. 

The little chicks should get on the ground as 
soon as possible. A little yard of poultry wire 
can be used at first, but must be round, so that the 
chicks working their way along the fence will soon 
find themselves back in the warm hover. 

Chicks with hens require less attention, but biddy 
should not be allowed to drag them through the wet 
grass and they must be treated for lice frequently, 
using powder on their backs and a bit of grease on 
their heads. 

Clean the incubator and give it a thorough sun 
bath before filling it a second time. 

All litter should be cleaned out of the poultry 
house this month. If there is an earth floor, it is 
well to remove an inch or more of the surface and 
replace it with clean sand. This is also a good time 
to remove all fixtures and give the house a thor- 



I50 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

ough renovation. It may be whitewashed, sprayed 
or washed with kerosene or treated to a coat of 
prepared lice paint. Some of the latter are very 
efficacious, one application sufficing for several 
months. 

Remove the broody hens to the breaking-up coop 
the first night they are found on the nest, if they 
are not to be set. The longer they sit, the more 
difficult it becomes to make them forget that they 
want to sit. 

It is a simple matter to start in the poultry 
business this month by buying a few broody 
old hens and several sittings of eggs from good 
stock. 

MAY 

Day-old chicks purchased the first of this month 
will begin laying early in the Fall, if they belong 
to the smaller breeds. This is a good way for the 
amateur to begin. The chicks may be put under a 
broody hen at night, raised in an ordinary heated 
brooder or grown in a fireless brooder. The latter 
will give satisfaction now that the weather is fairly 
warm. 

When the breeding season is over, the male birds 




Teaching a White Cochin Bantam to pose, 
very tame and friendly 



Bantams are 



THE YEAR'S WORK 151 

should be disposed of, unless of special value. It 
is poor policy to feed a lot of useless roosters all 
Summer. 

The chicks should be carefully shut in at night, 
so that they will not fall victims to rats, skunks or 
thieving cats. It is better to use wire netting with 
a very fine mesh on the windows and doors, how- 
ever, than to shut out the air. 

If there are hawks about and the chicks are on 
range, provide numerous brush heaps where the 
youngsters can find shelter. 

Dwarf Essex rape may be planted this month and 
will make excellent green feed in a few weeks. It 
should be cared for like cabbage. When the plants 
are a foot high, break off the leaves, and they will 
grow again. 

If chicks of different ages are running together, 
the small ones may be crowded away from the feed 
boxes. To avoid this, make a covered frame of 
slats sufficiently far apart so that the little chicks 
can pass through, while the older ones can not. 
Feed the babies in this frame and they will be able 
to eat in comfort. The same method may be used 
to prevent the old hen wasting the rations of the 
chicks. 



152 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

JUNE 

Give the incubator a thorough cleaning before 
putting it away. Empty out the oil and remove the 
old wicks. 

The growing chicks must have shade. So, for 
that matter, must the laying hens. In a Pennsyl- 
vania farmer's bulletin, Mr. A. Theo. Wittman ad- 
vocates planting Jerusalem artichokes in the poultry 
yard, and the plan seems a good one. They will 
propagate themselves from year to year and the 
fowls dislike the taste of the leaves too much to 
eat them. 

Fresh water in abundance is needed for hens and 
chicks alike. Labor may be economized by using 
a kerosene or other barrel which will hold several 
gallons. The barrel should be elevated on blocks 
and a small hole bored near the bottom. A plug 
with a groove in one side may be driven into this 
hole and will allow water to drip slowly into a 
basin beneath. The amount of water escaping 
may be regulated by the size of the groove in the 
plug. Of course, the barrel should stand in a 
shaded spot. 

Remember that cleanliness is exceedingly im- 



THE YEAR'S WORK 153 

portant in hot weather. All the feeders and drink- 
ing dishes should be cleaned daily and twice a week 
should be taken to the house and scalded. 

The chicks should have beef scraps always before 
them and should be given green food of some kind 
daily, if confined. 

It is well to spade up a portion of the yard each 
week. A little grain dug into the ground will en- 
courage the birds to take exercise. 

Begin getting rid of the old hens this month. 
Those which obviously are not laying and those 
which are persistently broody should go first. 

JULY 

Take extra precautions against lice this month. 
They multiply with amazing rapidity in hot weather 
and the hens are not in good condition to resist their 
attacks. 

If the house is very hot, make an opening in the 
back just under the roof in order to have a cross 
current of air. 

The old hens should be disposed of as fast as they 
stop laying. Feeding largely of corn will help to 
put them in good condition for market unless the 
weather is very hot. 



154 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Eggs should be gathered several times a day so 
that they will not be incubated by the laying hens. 

The nesting material should be renewed at fre- 
quent intervals and the nest boxes thoroughly 
cleaned each time. 

Treasure your lawn clippings. They are excel- 
lent to feed now or to dry and feed next Winter. 

Sometimes changing from the regular laying mash 
to the growing mash fed the chickens will help to 
increase the yield of eggs in the laying house. 

'^^^"' AUGUST 

An off month for the poultry. The hens are 
molting and the production of eggs not large. 

Continue to market the old hens as fast as they 
stop laying. Get rid of surplus cockerels, too. 

The supply of corn should be reduced consider- 
ably in extremely hot weather. 

The molting hens should not be annoyed by a 
rooster, but should have a shaded yard and cool earth 
to dust in. Loam is better than dust for the hen's 
dry bath. 

Dwarf Essex rape may still be sown this month 
to give a supply of late green stuff. Slight frosts do 
not hurt it. 



THE YEAR'S WORK 155 

Be sure that the chickens are not crowded at night. 

When confined, pullets and cockerels should not 
be allowed in the same flock after it is possible to 
tell them apart, even though hatched late. 

SEPTEMBER 

An excellent time to build the new poultry house, 
so that it will be well dried out before Winter comes. 

Haul clean sand into the old houses and get them 
into condition for the season's pullets. 

If the chickens must be confined on account of 
bad weather, give them litter and throw grain into 
it, which will help to keep them interested. When 
chicks that have been accustomed to free range are 
closely confined, they fret themselves fairly thin. 

Let the pullets be used to open air houses from 
the first and they will grow a heavy coat of feath- 
ers, so that they will be ready for fresh air laying 
houses in Winter. In other words, they will be 
inured to the cold. 

This is a good month for a beginner to start with 
mature birds, which often can be secured at a bar- 
gain. If the amateur wants to build up a good 
strain, he can afford to buy yearlings from a re- 
liable breeder. He may get fewer eggs than from 



156 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

pullets, but he will be prepared to hatch out a fine 
lot of chicks in the Spring. 

Plow or spade the garden and plant rye for the 
hens to feed on in Winter. 

OCTOBER 

Leaves make cheap litter. It is a good plan to 
gather many bags full and to store them in a dry 
place. 

The pullets should be in their permanent quar- 
ters by the first of this month, for it is poor policy 
to move them after they commence laying. 

Start feeding rather more heavily and induce the 
birds to eat dry mash freely. 

If the pullets are slow in laying, give them a warm 
crumbly mash several times a week. If a daily 
mash of table scraps is given, no stimulant will be 
needed probably, but a teaspoon ful of mustard to 
the mash for 25 hens may be added. A little salt 
is a help. Also, a handful of hemp seed may be 
thrown into the litter once or twice a week. 

Keep litter in abundance on the floor and make 
the pullets scratch for their grain. Exercise and 
contentment are very important. 

Make note of the pullets which lay first, if pos- 




tn o 

o 



.k^ 



THE YEAR'S WORK 157 

sible, and put a band on one leg of each. These 
will be the hens to breed from. 

Don't hold the cockerels any longer, unless wanted 
for your own table. 

NOVEMBER 

If the pullets are laying freely, you will know 
that your season's work has been properly done. 
If they are not; well, what was the trouble? If 
you have kept a record of your work, that will help 
you to decide. 

More corn may be fed now. Indeed, it may well 
be fed exclusively for the evening ration. 

This is a fine month to sell eggs, but a poor one 
for dressed poultry. There should be no old fowb 
left to sell. 

Busy hens make a full Qgg basket. A handful 
of millet scattered in the litter occasionally will be an 
extra inducement for the hens to scratch. 

Be sure that the pullets have plenty of green 
food. Cabbages are not the best, for they do not 
add to the flavor of the Qgg. However, they will 
answer, but do not make the fowls jump for them. 
Mangels are better. Cut alfalfa may always be pur- 
chased of grain dealers. 



158 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

DECEMBER 

It is often possible to buy a high-grade breeding 
male this month at a reasonable price, especially a 
yearling. 

The hens which remain on the roost last in the 
morning and go on first at night are not likely to 
be good layers. Watch your birds at this season. 
Go into the house at night and feel the crop of each 
hen. Note those hens whose crops are only half 
full and test them several nights in succession. If 
the same condition is found, you will be safe in 
saying that those hens are not laying. 

Scald the water dishes several times a month, 
even in mid-Winter. By giving the water warm, 
you will not have to fill the dishes so often, in freez- 
ing weather. 

Beware of new corn. You can feed it freely, 
however, if you first put it in the oven and parch 
it. The hens will relish it, too, especially if it is 
fed warm. In fact, warm corn is in the nature of 
a gentle stimulant, although not of sufficient value 
to warrant the work of preparing it except in the 
case of a small flock. 



Appendix 
EXPERIMENT STATIONS 



AMATEUR poultry keepers will find it greatly 
to their advantage to keep in close touch 
with the experiment stations nearest them. 
The various stations are located at the places named 
below : 



Alabama — Auburn, Union- 
town, and Tuskegee. 

Alaska — wSitka. 

Arizona — Tucson. 

Arkansas — Fayetleville. 

California — Berkeley. 

Colorado — Fort Collins. 

Connecticut — Storrs and New 
Haven. 

Delaware — Newark. 

Florida — Lake City. 

Georgia — Experiment. 

Hawaii — Honolulu. 

Idaho — Moscow. 

Illinois — Urbana. 

Indiana — Lafayette. 

Iowa — Ames. 

Kansas — Manhattan. 

Kentucky — Lexington. 



Louisiana — Baton Rouge, 
New Orleans, and Calhoun. 

Maine — Orono. 

Maryland — College Park. 

Massachusetts — Amherst. 

Michigan — Agricultural Col- 
lege. 

Minnesota — St. Anthony 
Park, St. Paul. 

Mississippi — Agricultural Col- 
lege. 

Missouri — Columbia and 
Mountain Grove. 

Montana — Bozeman. 

Nebraska — Lincoln. 

Nevada — Reno. 

New Hampshire — Durham. 

Nezv Jersey — New Bruns- 
wick. 



159 



i6o THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 



New Mexico — Mesilla Park. 

New York — Geneva and Ith- 
aca. 

North Carolina — Raleigh. 

North Dakota — Agricultural 
College. 

Ohio — Wooster. 

Oklahoma — Stillwater. 

Oregon — Corvallis. 

Pennsylvania — State College. 

Porto Rico — Mayaguez. 

Rhode Island — Kingston. 



South Carolina — Clemson Col- 
lege. 
South Dakota — Brookings. 
Tennessee — Knoxville. 
Texas — College Station. 
Utah — Logan. 
Vermont — Burlington. 
Virginia — Blacksburg. 
Washington — Pullman. 
West Virginia — Morgantown. 
Wisconsin — Madison. 
Wyoming — Laramie. 



POULTRY LITERATURE 

THE following bulletins are for free dis- 
tribution and copies will be sent to any 
address on application to any Senator, Rep- 
resentative, or Delegate in Congress, or to the Secre- 
tary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. : 

Fowls : Care and Feeding. 

Standard Varieties of Chickens. 

Ducks and Geese. 

Eggs and Their Uses as Food. 

Poultry Raising on the Farm. 

Squab Raising. 

Poultry as Food. 

Turkeys. 

Incubators and Incubation, 

Poultry Management. 

The following bulletins contain short articles on the subject 
mentioned, while those above are entirely devoted to poultry. 
Raising Geese for Profit — No. 65. 
Feeding Poultry — Nos. 84, 97, 107, 144, 186. 
Preserving Eggs — Nos. 103, 2.']2>, 296. 
Dressing and Packing Poultry — No. 144. 
Selling Eggs by Weight — No. 114. 
Early Molting of Hens — No. 186. 
Cost of Eggs in Winter — No. 190. 
Poultry Appliances — Nos, 316, 317. 
Fertihty of Eggs — No, 251, 

161 



No. 


41. 


No. 


51- 


No. 


64. 


No. 


128. 


No. 


141. 


No. 


177. 


No. 


182. 


No. 


200. 


No, 


236. 


No, 


287. 



i62 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Incubation — Nos. 281, 309. 

Cause of Death of Young Chicks — No. 309. 

Healthy Poultry — No. 305. 

Snow for Poultry — No. 309. 

Digestibility of Fish and Poultry — No. 276. 

Guinea Fowl — No. 262. 

The bulletins of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture, treating 
on poultry topics, may be purchased of the Super- 
intendent of Documents, Union Building, Washing- 
ton, D. C. A circular giving titles, prices, etc., may 
be had upon application to the above address. Most 
of the state experiment stations issue free bulle- 
tins, some of which are of great value. 



OFFICIAL SCORE CARD OF THE AMERICAN 
POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



Date Variety .. 

Owner Sex 

Address Band No. 

Entry No Weight . . 



Symmetry 

Weight or Size 

Condition 

Head and Beak 

Eyes 

Comb 

Wattles and Ear-Lobes 

Neck 

Wings 

Back 

Tail 

Breast 

Body and Fluff 

Legs and Toes 

1 Hardness of Feather. . 

2 Crest and Beard 

Total Cuts 



Shape 



Color 



Score. 



Remarks 



1 Applies to Games and Game Bantams. 

2 Applies to Crested Breeds. 



Name of Judge. 
Secretary 



163 



SIMPLE TOE-MARKING SYSTEM 

IT is a simple matter to keep track of the chicks 
if they are toe-marked. Then it becomes easy 
to identify the birds of different hatches and 
to tell the year and even the month in which they 
made their appearance. The Bureau of Animal In- 
dustry at Washington suggests the following system 
of markings by which sixteen combinations are 
made possible. The average amateur will need to- 
use only a few of them, but the diagram indicates 
the possibilities of the plan : 

' A A « A A 

^- A A - A A 

^ A A ^-^ A ^ 

« A A ^ A A 

« A A ^ A A 

« A A '* A A 

^ A A '« A A 

a A A ^ A A 
164 



INCUBATION PERIODS 

THERE is considerable variation in the time 
required for the incubation of eggs laid 
by the different fowls, as the following 
table shows : 

Common hen 21 days. 

Partridge 24 days. 

Pheasant 25 days. 

Guinea hen 25 days. 

Common duck 28 days. 

Pea hen 28 days. 

Turkey 28 days. 

Goose 30 days. 



i6s 



INDEX 



A 

American Poultry Associa- 
tion, io6 

American Standard of Per- 
fection, io6, io8 

Artichokes for shade, 152 



Brooders — Continued. 

ventilation of, 149 

where to use, 148 
Broody hens, breaking up, 

coop for, 44 

superseding, 131 



150 



B 

Bantams as layers, 21 

as pets, 21 

for pleasure, 8, iii 

show, III 
Breeds 

Anconas, 13, 14, 22 

Andalusians, 19 

Bantams, 8, 21, iii 

Brahmas, 17, 22, 85 

Cochins, 22 

Cornish, 19 

Hamburgs, 19 

Houdans, 20, 22, no 

Leghorns, 12, 14, 18, 22, 85 

Langshans, 17, 22 

Minorcas, 18, 22 

Orpingtons, 19, 22 

Plymouth Rocks, 2, 12, 16, 

8S 
Polish, 19, no 
Rhode Island Reds, 14, 16, 

22 
Wyandottes, 16, 22 
Breeding, stock for, 92, 93 

cockerels for, 108 
Brooders, fireless, 82 
operating, 79 
temperature, of, 80 

I 



Capons for the home table, 
132 

to brood chicks, 132 
Charcoal, feeding, 54 
Chickens, day-old, 5, 150 

feed box for, 151 

how to feed, 74 

how to dress, 133 

how to mark, 130, 164 

in brooders, 79 

protection for, 151 

when to hatch, 72 

with hens, y^ 
Classes 

American, 15, 17, 22 

Asiatic, 17, 22 

breeds included in the va- 
rious, 22 

division into, 15 

English, 22 

French, 22 

Mediterranean, 18, 22 
Coal ashes, use of in chicken 

yards, 136 
Color of eggs, 22 

of flesh, 22, 23 
Coops for chicks, 73 

wath runs, 100 



67 



1 68 



INDEX 



Corn, feeding new, i57» 158 
Curtains clogged with dust, 

33 

in fresh-air houses, 27 



Day-old chicks, beginning 
with, 5, 150 
cost of, 5 
Disinfecting poultry houses, 

Droppnig boards, 41 
Ducks, how to dress, 134 

how to feed, 117 

Indian Runner, 114 

Pekin, 120 

Rouen, 121 

shade for, 121 
Dust bath, how to make a, 89 



Eggs, brown, 12, 22 

care of, 104 

cooling, 68 

effect of food on color of, 
88 

effect of food on flavor of, 
87, 88 

for hatching, 4, 59 

in winter, 84 

preserving, 129 

sale of, 104 

sprinkhng, 69 

storing, 88 

testing, 69 

turning, 67 

white, 12, 22 
Expenses for stock, 4 

for buildings, 9, 37 
Experiment stations, loca- 
tions of, 159 



Fancy poultry as a source of 
profit, 109 



Fancy poultry — Continued. 

fitting for shows, iii 

kept for recreation, 105 
Feeding balanced rations, 46 

beef scraps, 53, 75, 117 

chickens, 74, 81 

ducks and ducklings, 117 

goslings, 122 

grain, 46, 51 

laying hens, 46 

with patent feeders, 97 

milk to chicks, 135 

sprouted grains to chicks, 
136 
Feeds for chicks, 75 

green, 56, 76, 86, loi, 119 

influence of, on color in 
eggs, 88 

influence of, on flavor in 
eggs, 87-88 
Fencing, importance of, 102 
Foundations for poultry 

houses, 39 
Floors, different kinds of, 38 
Frosted combs, remedy for, 
142 

G 

Geese, age of, 122 

dispositions of, 122 

Embden, 123 

feeding, 123 

Gray African, 124 

Toulouse, 123 
Grass clippings, how to feed, 

137 
Grain, kinds to feed, 46 

sprouted, how to prepare, 
136 
Green cut bone, value of, 89 
Green feeds 

alfalfa, 56 

beets, 57 

cabbage, 57 

clover, 56 

for ducklings, 119 



INDEX 



169 



Green feeds — Continued. 

importance of, 56 

lawn clippings, 57 

lettuce, 57 

on town lots, loi 

rape, 57, 76 

sprouted oats, 76, 136 

Swiss chard, 57 
Grit, importance of, 53 
Guinea fowl as a substitute 
for game, 124 

as mischief makers, 127 

cry of, 124 

H 

Hatching, dates for, 72, 147 

goose eggs, 122 

guinea eggs, 125 
Houses, deep, 23 

double pitched roof, 32 

for ducks, 116 

for geese, 123 

fresh-air, 26 

portable, 7, 36 

to keep cool, 153 

Tolman, 31 

year-round, 8 
Hoppers, home-made, 52 

I 

Incubation periods, 165 
Incubators, operation of, 66 

purchase of, 65, 146 
Insect powder, a satisfactory, 

63 
Insurance and incubators, 66 



Jungle fowl, what Darwin 
says of, 23 



Lamps, incubator, 67 
Laying, how to stimulate, 89, 
156 



Laying hens, how to move, 
136 

pelvic test for, 128 

simple test for, 158 
Lice, how to get rid of, 140 

in summer, 153 

on chicks, 78 

on sitting hens, 64 

varieties of, 138 
Literature for poultry keep- 
ers, 161 
Litter, depth of, 86 

feeding in, 51 

kinds of, 55 

M 

Mash, dry, 49 

home-made, 52, 89 

wet, 49 
Matings, when to make, 109 
Movable houses, value of, 40 
Mustard, use of, 53, 90, 156 

N 

Nest eggs, how to make, 134 
Nests, dark, 43 

for sitting hens, 63 

of guinea hens, 125 

size of, 42 

trap, 90 
No-yard system, plan of, 94 

O 

Oyster shells, necessity of, 53 
P 

Perches, arrangement of, 41 
Profits from fancy poultry, 
106 

usually small, 10 
Pullets best for laying, 3 

buying in the fall, 8 

laying ages of, 85 

to secure preponderance of, 

135 
marking, 156 



170 



INDEX 



R 

Rats, how to combat, 38 
Roofs, best material for, 37 



Salt, use of, in mashes, 53, 

156 
Scaly legs, remedy for, 144 
Shade for ducks, 121 

how to provide, 152 
Spray pumps, use of, 96 
Silicate of soda for preserv- 
ing eggs, 129 
Sitting hens, use of in con- 
nection with incubators, 
61 
care of, 63 

in the laying house, 64 
Strain, importance of, 4, 14 



Vices 

egg eating, how to prevent, 

143 
feather eating, cause of, 

143 

W 

Washing show birds, 11 1 
Water for chicks, 76 

glass for preserving eggs, 

129 
in winter, 96 
patent fountains for, 98 
Weights of dififerent breeds, 

22 
Windows, importance of low, 
27 
in roof, 34 



Testing eggs, methods of, 69 
Thermometers, need of test- 
ing, 67 



Yards, for ducklings, 118 
not necessary, 7 
spading, 99, 153 



GLOSSARY OF COMMON POULTRY 

TERMS 

Brassy — White plumage with yellowish tinge. 

Breed — Groups of fowls with distinct characteristics. 

Brood — Number of young chicks being raised together. 

Broody — Showing a desire to incubate. 

Carriage — Characteristic attitude of a bird when at rest and 
in motion. 

Class — Divisions in which various breeds are associated. 
There are fourteen in the American Standard of Perfection. 

Cock — Male bird at least a year old. 

Cockerel — Male bird under a year. 

Condition — The state of a bird's health, plumage and clean- 
liness. 

Crest — Tuft of feathers on the head. 

Crop — Receptacle which receives and softens the food before 
it passes into a bird's crop. 

Cushion — 'Feathers at the rear of the back of a fowl. 

Disqualification — A defect which renders a bird unworthy to 
compete for a prize. Disqualifications are named in the 
Standard of Perfection. 

Down — The fine hairy covering of chicks. 

Drake — The male of the duck family. 

Duckling — Young of the duck family. 

Ear-lobes — -The skin just below the ears. It varies in color 
with the breed. 

Flights — Long feathers of the wings used in flying, but con- 
cealed when the bird is at rest. 

Flufif — Soft downy feathers on a fowl's posterior. 

Gills — Another name for wattles. 

Gosling — The young of geese. 

171 



172 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 

Hackle — Long neck plumage. 

Hen — Female at least a year old. 

Lacing — Feathers edged with a color different from the main 
color of the wing. 

Lopped comb — A comb falling to one side as often se^n on 
Leghorns. 

Mandibles' — The upper and the lower parts of the beak. 

Mottled — Feathers marked with surface spots of another 
color or shade. 

Pea comb — A triple comb having short serrations. 

Pen — One male and four females placed together for breed- 
ing. 

Penciled — Feathers with narrow or concentric stripes. 

Poult — A young turkey before the sex can be determined. 

Pullet — A female under one year. 

Recognized — Conceded as a standard breed. 

Rose comb — A solid, low, thick comb, covered with small 
points. 

Rooster — Common term for a male bird, but not used in the 
fancy. 

Saddle — The rear part of the back of a male. 

Shank — The part of the leg just above the foot. 

Sickle feathers — The long curled feathers at the top of a 
male bird's tail. 

Spur — Pointed or knob-like growth on the inner part of the 
shank. 

Squirrel tail — So called when any part leans toward the neck 
beyond an imaginary line perpendicular to the back of its 
junction with the tail. 

Under color — The color of the plumage close to the body and 
hidden by the feathers. 

Wattles — Fleshy growths hanging near the beak. 

Wry tail — Term applied when the tail is permanently one- 
sided. 



MAR W 1918 



